^°o 



,-0' c 



N R 









-V f 

^- ■ 



\ *> 






A*' 



ti^ -A . V 






-^ V 



'^oo^ 






•*^r"'' 






"^^ v-^"" 



.A^ 






^\ 



, s ' ' ' '^ ' ^ 






0° ."^^m^v^ 




^A/- 






^^ N C 





















%.^^ 



- ^o^^■-./>. 





















o 










4 



CHRISTIANITY 



AND ITS CONFLICTS, 



ANCIENT AND MODERN. 



E. E. MAEOY, A. M. 



NEW YORK: 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

418 & HZ BROADWAY. 

/J laer. 




-^V 






Entbeed, according to Act of Coagress, in tlic year ISOT, by 

D. APPLETON & Co. 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 

Disti-ictofNsAvTort. 



1^3 Ji 



^^^ 



"Dec 






Ud£S. 



PKEFACE 



In offering the present volume to the public, the author 
has aimed to display Christianity as it was established by 
Jesus, as it has been developed and perpetuated by the apos- 
tles and their successors, and to correct the erroneous impres- 
sions which so generally exist respecting it. He has also 
endeavored to exhibit a general outline of the various con- 
flicting elements which have been arrayed against the Chris- 
tian system up to the present time. We have written for 
the sole purpose of vindicating truth, and the religion of 
Christ. In all instances our standard of comparison has been 
that Divine Code which was instituted by our Saviour in 
the New Dispensation. Before this infallible standard we 
have fearlessly arraigned the anti-Christian speculations and 
theories of the world, and have thus analyzed and judged 
them. 

Such a course is calculated to provoke severe criticisms 
of the work itself, and denunciations of its author. But if 
we shall succeed in arresting the attention of impartial and 
candid men, in diverting them from error to truth, and in 
checking, to some extent, the fearful tide of skepticism and 
irreligion which now pervades society, and threatens to sub- 



IV PREFACE. 

vert the fundamental principles of religion, our object will 
be accomplished. 

Our data have been derived from universally accepted 
authorities like Josephus, Eusebius, Hume, Gibbon, Las 
Casas, Bossuet, Balmes, Hallam, De Haller, Dollinger, 
Macaulay, Guizot, Bancroft, White, Barry, Taylor, Allies, 
and other standard sources. We have taken special care to 
procure our facts from these reputable authors in order to 
avoid all pretexts of cavil or dissent against our premises. 

In alluding to the opinions and doctrines of individuals, 
we have endeavored, as far as possible, to permit each one 
to express his sentiments in his own langaage, in order that 
a better judgment may be formed respecting the justice of 
our inferences and conclusions. 

We are aware that many of our ideas are in direct an- 
tagonism with those of numerous loved and respected friends ; 
and the expression of them has caused us many pangs. But 
an earnest and sincere conviction of right and duty has 
impelled us onward, and finally triumphed over our j)rivate 
feelinais and interests. The book has been written in the 
midst of arduous professional avocations, and has therefore 
very humble pretensions as a literary effort. The author 
simply claims that he has written with a iiew to subserve 
the cause of truth, justice, and human happiness. 



OOJSTTEKTS, 



CHAPTER I.— Condition of the World at the Tibie op the Bieth of Chbist. 

The liuman mind at that period chiefly under the control of pagan idolatiy, Pan- 
theism, and the Epicurean philosophy, 1.— Plato and otlftr exponents of these 
systems, 2.— The ancient philosophers had no true ideas of a supreme personal 
God, 3.— Their rules of individual conduct formed only with reference to the 
wants and interests of the present life, 5. — The individual man not respected, 
7.— Influence of Christianity in demanding radical reforms in human conduct 
and governments, 8.— Eoman institutions and religious ideas, 9.— Moral and 
social condition of the people ; individual rights, 13.— Condition of women, 10. 
Their degradation, 13.— Moral condition of the Jews, 15.— Influence of Paganism 
on them, 16.— General influence of Christianity, 17.— The teaching of Christ, 18. 
—The establishment of His Church, 20.— Its perpetuity, 22.— Its obscurity, 23.— 
He requires unconditional faith and obedience, 25.— Views of M. Guizot re- 
specting the early Christian Church, 21. — Answer to M. Guizot, 21-24.— Object 
of religion, 27.— Form of doctrine, 28.— Influence of the apostles and early 
fathers, 29.— Human brotherhood, 31. 



CHAPTER n.— Doctrines taught bt Jesus Christ. 

God as manifested under the old and new dispensations ; ancient ideas, 32.— The 
finite intelligence cannot comprehend the Infinite, 35. — God reveals Himself to 
men through His wonderful works, 35— and His prophets, 37.— Christ's Incarna- 
tion, 33.— His divinity, 34.— Jewish ideas of the Supreme Being imperfect, 36.— 
The prophets, 39-41.— The new dispensation, 43.— God manifest in the flesh, or 
God in Christ, 44.— Christ truly God in direct communication with mankind, 45. 
—He is the true object of worship, 46. — He is the embodiment and impersona- 
tion of the Almighty, 48.— His mission on earth, 49. 

CHAPTER III.— Doctrines taught bt Jesus Christ. 

Faith, 51.— Influences arrayed against Christ and His doctrines, 51.— Sensuality 
of the times, 52.— The Emperor Tiberius, 52.— Absolute and unquestioning/ai^A 
demanded by Jesus, 54.— Obdurate unbelief of the Jews and Pagans, 54.— Mira- 
cles a means of inspiring faith, 54-64.— Rewards of faith given to true believers, 
55.— Faith the first element of religion, 56.— Objects of faith chiefly miraculous, 
56.— Doubts suggested by sensual philosophy, 59. — Doctrine of the Council of 
Trent, 62.— Apostles' Creed, 63.— Miracles, 64. 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV.— Doctrines taught bt Jesus Christ. 

Bepentance, Confession, and Reformation., 66.— True penitence requires botli faitii 
and works, 66.— Demanded by both divine and human laws, 67.— Men are natu- 
rally prone to evil, 67.— Pride and self-will deter men from penance, 67.— Con- 
servative agencies, 68.— Sacrament of penance, 69.— Objections, 69.— Refutation 
from the Bible and the Council of Trent, 70.— Utility, 72.— Admissions of Prot- 
estants, 72.— Duties of priests and penitents in the confessional, 73.— Objec- 
tions to public confessions, 74.— This sacrament established by Christ and prac- 
tised by the apostles, 76. . 

CHAPTER v.— DocTEESTES taught et Jesus Christ. 

Baptism, 78.- Baptism instituted by Christ, 78.— Appropriate as an initiatoiy 
ceremony, 78.— Its necessity, 79.— The Saviour and apostles taught that it con- 
fers grace on the believer, 78.— Several Christian sects acknowledge this, 80.— 
Danger of ignoring it, 81. 

CHAPTER VI.— Doctrines taught bt Jesus Christ. 

Confirmation, 82.— Evidently o^ divine origin, 82.— Christ and the apostles prac- 
tised it, 82.— Ajibstles at the day of Pentecost, 84.— A canon of the Council of 
Trent on this subject, 84.— Confirmation as a means of grace, 85. 

CHAPTER VII.— Doctrines taught bt Jesus Christ. 

The Eucharist, 86.— A divine institution, 86.— Effects flowing from it, 87,— The 
conversion of the elements miraculous, 87.— Teaching of the Council of Trent, 
88.— The mass, 88-91.— Its signification, 89.— The miracle represented in the 
mass only consistent with the Lord's positive promise, 89.— Difference between 
the Catholic and Protestant Churches respecting this sacrament, 90-97.— Prot- 
estants object as the unbelieving Jews did, 93.— Faith in Christ the great want 
of all Christians, 94. 

CHAPTER Vni.— Doctrines taught bt Jesus Christ. 

Orders, 99.— Institution of the priesthood of divine origin, 99.— The ministry 
established by Christ, 100.— Its great importance, 102.— Danger of denying its 
sacredness, or of assuming to speak lightly of its functions, 100.— Interests of 
the Church committed to the priesthood, 102 

CHAPTER IX.— Doctrines taught bt Jesus Christ. 

Matri7non?/.— Wisdom and mercy of God manifested in this sacrament, 103.— Its 
sacredness proved, 104.— Its influence in promoting the religious sentiment and 
the welfare of society, 105.— Texts showing its sacramental character, 105. — 
Remarks of Allies on this subject, 105. 

CHAPTER X.— Doctrines taught bt Jesus Christ. 

Extreme Z7/icfe'o?2..— Apostolic direction to pray over and anoint the sick, 107. — 
Practice of the disciples sent forth by Jesus, 107.— Manifest use of this sacra- 
ment, 108. — The Lord's love is herein shown to man in his greatest trials, 108. 
—Teaching of the fathers of Trent, 109. 

CHAPTER XI.— Doctrines taught bt Jesus Christ. 

TJie Ten Commandments, 110.— Revealed by the Almighty on Mount Sinai, 110.— 
Reasserted by Christ as of perpetual obligation. 111.— The golden rule, 111. — 
One of the four fundamental divisions of the Catholic Church, 112. 



CONTENTS. ^^1 

CHAPTER xn.— Doctrines taught ey Jesus Chbist. 

The Lord's Prayer.-TMs model prayer the gift of Christ to man, I13.-Its 

adaptation to his wants, contrasted with the long prayers of the Pharisees, 114. 

-The teachings and example of Christ at variance with the opinions, morals, 

habits, and usages of the most enlightened ancient nations, I15.-Extract from 

"EcceHomo," 116. 
ClIAPTEE Xni.— The Church founded by Christ and the Catholic Church 

IDENTICAL. 

Eecapitnlation of doctrines, I18.-The Church in obscurity, I20.-Becomes the 
reli<-ion of the empire under Constantine, 120.-Tyrannical emperors, I21.-Pcr- 
secStion I21.-The Church protected by Constantine, 122.-Exalted character 
of Constantine, 122.-Barbarian invasions, 123.-Efforts of the Christian Church 
to preserve the Scriptures, 124.-Siegc of Rome by Attila, 125.-Conduct of the 
Pope, 126.— Condition of Europe after the incorporation of the barbarians, 12T. 
-Three distinct elements struggling for themasteiy, 127.-The Church counter- 
acts barbarism, preserves the Holy Scriptures and ancient learning through the 
dark a^-es 127.— Elevation of industry, 128.— Labors of the priesthood; St. 
Benedict, 128.-Reforms then made within the Church, 129.-Saracens invade 
Europe, 131.— They were Unitarians, 131.— Fanatics, 1.30.— Defeated at Tours, 
■ 131.— Feudal oppressions of the people, 132.— The Church resists tyranny, 133. 
—Charlemagne, 134.— Darkness and ignorance of the ninth and tenth centuries, 
134 —The Church eveiywhere "protests against excesses of mere strength and 
violence," 135.-The Normans in France, 136.-The Crusades against the Mo- 
hammedans, 136.-Progress during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, 138. 
-Missions in Eastern Asia, 140.-Sacriflces made by the missionaries, I41.-St. 
Francis Xavier and others, 142.— True interpretation of the Scriptures, 143.— 
Advantages of oral teaching, 143.-Tradition3 of the Church, 144.-Unwritten 
traditions, 146, 147.-Teachings of St. Paul, 147.-The ancient fathers, 149.- 
Innovations of protesters, 152.-Christ and the ancient fathers harmonize, 154. 
—Evils of private interpretation, im.—Besume, 160. 

CHAPTER SIV.— Common Grounds of Religious Faith. 

Unity of faith essential to the efficiency of the Church, 163.-Necessity of unity 
taught by Christ and the apostles, 1G3.-Evll of divisions and dissensions, 164. 
—Marks of a true church, 165.— Doctrines held in common by Christians gener- 
ally, 168.— The Catholic Church holds all that are essential to salvation, 168.— 
Poiits of hai-mony between Roman, Qreek, and Anglican Churches, 169.— Three 
out of the four grand divisions of essential elements of faith accepted by them 
all, 171.— Influence of private interpretation in dividing and setting Chiistians 
at variance, 171. 

CHAPTER XV.— On the Invocation of Saints, and on Sacred Images and 
Pictures. 
Errors of Protestant teaching on this subject refuted, 174.-Actual doctrines of 
the Church, 174.— Christ the object of worship by men and "angels, 175.— Scrip- 
ture proofs that prayers to saints and angels have been answered, 176.— The 
Catholic Church prohibits divine worship of the Virgin Mary, 177.— Saints 
passed from earth do not forget those they love, 178.-The prayers of the good 
in earth or heaven, 179.-Death is only a new birth, 180.-Teaching of the 
Council of Trent, 180-186.— Pictures only recall to our memories the acts of the 
persons they represent, ISl.-An ihustrative incident, 182.-Value of pictures, 
busts, and statues of our friends, 183.-True use of symbols and representa- 
tives, but not idols, 185.- Honor to the martyrs, 187.— Empress Helena, 187.— 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Eeverence of sepulchi-es and relics of beloved persons ancient and universal, 
188.— Protestant inconsistencies and vpant of reverence, 189.— Definition by St. 
Jerome, 191. 

CHAPTER XVI.— Cathedeaxs, and Fobms and Cekemonies of the Church. 
Grand churclies and imposing ceremonies impossible to the first Christians, 192. 
— Poverty and persecution, 193.— Subjects cheerfully bonor their rulers with 
costly palaces and the paraphernalia of royalty, 193.— Shall the King of kings 
receive less honor ? Selfishness and coldness characteristic of non-demonstra- 
tive men, 195. 

CHAPTER XVn.— PAPAIi SUPEEMACT. 

Christ selected one of his apostles as head of the visible Chui'ch, 201.— Necessity of 
organization, 203. — Successors of Saint Peter, 204.— Examples and authorities 
from the apostles and early fathers, 208.— The Bishop of Rome always acknowl- 
edged as head of the Church, 209.— Authorities, 210. 

CHAPTER XVni.— Papai. Infallieilitt. 

What the Church teaches on this point, 215.— Definition of the faith as given by 
successive popes, 216.— The pope's representative character, 218.— The Church 
safe from innovations or papal abuse of power, 219.— Authorities, 222. 

CHAPTER XIX.— Papal Intebperence in Sectilae Appaies. 
Examples, 226.— These acts justifiable, 22T.— Authorities, 228. 

CHAPTER XX.— Condition op the World at the Commencement op the 
Repoemation. 
Three systems of civilization in operation, 233.— Preservation of Christianity to 
the fifteenth century due to the Catholic Church, 237.— Influence of the Refor- 
mation, 238. — Great number of books printed before Luther, 210.— The Scrip- 
tures, 240. — Great achievements of Catholic discoverers and missionaries, 242. 
— ^Reformation already going on within the Church, M4. 

CHAPTER XXI.— Peimith^e Peotestantism. 

Ancient protesters ; they reject Christ, 247.— Examples of revolt from the Church 
in the early centuries, 250.— TertuUian's remarks on heresies, 253. 

CHAPTER XXn.— Modern Protestantism. 

The large number of modern sects, 255.— Influence of Puritanic Protestantism, 
258.— Objects of the innovators, 257.— Elements of failure in their scheme, 260. 
—Luther, 262. 

CHAPTER XXm.— Doctrines op the Innovators op the Sixteenth Centuey. 
Rationalism, 265.— Original sin, 266.— Teachings of the leaders, 267.— Of the 
Catholic Church, 2G7.— Free-will, 269.— Predestination, 270, 271.— Justification by 
faith alone, 273.— Good works condemned, 274.— Luther, Calvin, Zwinglius, 274. 
Evil consequences of their teachings, 278.— Dissensions, 279.— Fatalistic ten- 
dencies, 281.— Scriptural evidence against them, 284. 

CHAPTER XXIV.— Traits op a Few op the Prominent Repormers. 

Luther : early life of, 287. —His first disafi"ection to the Church, 288.— His visions 
and fantasies, 289.- Extravagant assertions and conduct, 290, 291.— He tolerated 
polygamy, 293.— His intolerance and cruelty, 292.— Conferences with the devil, 



CONTENTS. IX 

294.— Luther certainly a monomaniac, 295-299.— Melancthon, 300.— Superstitions, 
30i._Private opinions of tlie Reformers discordant, 302.— General character, 
302.— Calvin; mental and physical peculiarities of, 303.— His stem and cruel 
character, 304.— His doctrines misrepresent the character of the Creator, 304.— 
The model Puritan, 306.— Minor innovators, 306.— Bucer, 30T.— Karlstadt, 308- 
'311.- Zwinglius, 308.— Farel, 309.— Anabaptists, 309.-^ohn of Leyden, 309.— 
David George, 310.— Stork, 310.— Tanquelin, 311.— Henry YIH. ; Anne Boleyn, 
313.— Divorce of Queen Catharine, 314.— The Anglican Church, 314.— Queen 
Elizabeth, 315.— Cranmer, 314^316.— King Henry excommunicated, 316.— Classi- 
fication of Reformers, 317. 

CHAPTER XXV.— Fkxjits of the Reformatiok in Europe, 

Influence on religious sentiment, 319.— Disintegration of the Church begun by 
the Reformers, 320.— Progress of rationalism and materialism, 321.— Marriage a 
holy sacrament, 321.— Reformers sanction polygamy, 322.— Vows of celibacy 
broken by their followers, 323.— The ties of morality loosened, 323.— Monas- 
teries and libraries despoiled, 323.— Churches and nunneries also, 324.— Per- 
secution by the Reformers in Switzerland, 325.— Calvin and Zwinglius, 325.— 
Progress of infidelity, 327.— Kantian philosophy of human reason as the only 
revelation, 327.— Testimony of Macaulay to the faithfulness of the Catholic 
Church, 328.— Calvin and the Puritanical teachings in France, 329.— Calvinism 
leads to infidelity or back to Catholicism, 330.— Henry VHI. the spiritual head 
of the Church in England, 331.— His authority triumphant, 332.— Martyrs, 332. 
—Statement of M. D'Aubigne, 333.— Answer to this, 334-336.— D'Aubigne's ad- 
mission, 336. 
CHAPTER XXVI.— Ekuits of the Rbfokmation in Europe. 

Influence on morals, manners, and society, 338.— Reformers should have attempt- 
ed to reform erring members rather than attack the Church of God itself, 338.— 
Deterioration of morals caused by the Reformation, 339.— Cruelties, immorali- 
ties, divorce-mania, 340.— Proofs fi'om various authors, 340-342.— Moral state 
of Christendom growing worse under the Reformers, 343.— Various authorities, 
343.— Calvin, 344.— Melancthon, 345.— The same evils visible in our own times, 
346.— Results of Puritanism in other countries, 347.— Religious civil wars, 348. 
—Diet of Augsburg, 348.— War in Switzerland, .349-351.— War in France, 352.— 
Huguenots, 353.— Conde, Prince of Orange, Coligny, 353.— St, Bartholomew's, 
354.— Puritanism in Sweden ; Gustavus Vasa, 355.— Denmark ; confiscation and 
robbery of church property, 356.— Iceland, 356.— Scotland, 356.— John Knox, 
356.— Tenets and practical tendencies of Puritanism, 357.— Election, total deprav- 
ity, predestination, 358.— What has Puritanism accomplished ? 360.— Compari- 
son between Puritanism and paganism, 381.— The primary aim of the Reform- 
ers, 363. 
CHAPTER XXVn.— The Puritan System in America. 

The Bible as the standard of faith and practice, 367.— Materialism ; political econ- 
omy, 368.— The ascetic and industrial philosophies, 368.— Doctrine of the Ser- 
mon on the Mount, 369.— The monastic system, 370.— The renovating influence 
of the Church, 371.— Parallel between Catholic and Protestant countries, 371.— 
Influences of the two religious systems on civilization, 373.— Mexico, 374.— New 
England, 375.— Puritans at Plymouth Rock, 377.— Fate of the American Indians, 
378.— North Carolina, 379.— Sir Walter Raleigh, 380.— Indians of Connecticut 
and Massachusetts, 381.— King Philip, 381.— Reward for Indian scalps, 382.— 
Catholic colony of Lord Baltimore in Maryland, 383.— Puritanism exterminating 
the Indians, 383. 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE XXVin.— Puritan Intolerance. 

The Puritans had been themselves persecuted in England, SSG.— Their progress 
and character in America, 386.— Persecution by Puritans of Boston and Salem, 
387.— Persecution of Catholics in Ireland, 397.— Semi-barbarous character of the 
people in the middle ages, 397.— Toleration by Catholics in Maryland, 398. 

CHAPTER XXIX.— Missions in America. 

Influence of Catholic missionaries in America, 399.— Missions among the Indians ; 
F&ther Marquette, 399.- Jesuits in Canada, 399.— The Hurons ; Brebeuf and 
Daniel, 400.— Martyrdoms, 400.— Difference between Catholic and Protestant 
missions, 401.— Contrasts, 402.— War of sects, 402.— Converted Indians of South 
America, 403.— Statistics of the progress of Catholic missions in America, 404. 
—Asia and Oceanica, 405.— Africa, 400.- Total Catholic converts from heathen- 
ism, 407. 

CHAPTER XXX.— Human Slavery in New England. 

Commenced by Puritans in 1637, 409.— Great numbers of slaves taken from Africa, 
409.— Slave-trade never sanctioned by the See of Rome, 410, 411.— Puritans en- 
slaving Indians, 411.— Queen Isabella saves Indians from being sold, 412.— The 
wisest Americans contemplated gradual emancipation, 412. 

CHAPTER XXXI.— Puritanism in the United States, 

Influence on Morals^ Ilanners, and Politics.— Fmit&ias, cold and unsocial, 414.— 
From Calvinism to infidelity is but a short step, 415.— Socialistic and skeptical 
elements in Puritanism lead to a perverted supernaturalism, 416.— Their rela- 
tion to witchcraft and modern Spuitualism, 415.— Evil results of this doctiine, 
416.— Rationalism and skepticism, 417.— Radical Puritans imitating the Norman 
pirates, 418.— Corruption and fanaticism of American radicals, 419.— Degenera- 
tion of the Romans at the end of the Republic, 419.— Similar degeneration 
among Americans at present, 419.— Peculiarities of the Puritans in England, 
420.— In England and America, 420.— Northern radicalism ; taxation, 421.— The 
events of our time compared with those of the French Revolution, 422.— Macau- 
lay'^s description of Barrere, 423.— Comparison with other characters of former 
times and of the present, 425, 426.— Contrast between the French Revolution of 
1789 and that of America in 1861-' 65. —Jacobin and American spy systems com- 
pared, 428.— The "rebound" after the French Reign of Terror, 430.— Sectional 
usurpation of power can be but temporary, 431.— Fanaticism of the South com- 
pared with that of the North, 432.— Errors of Northern philanthropy, 433.— The 
true Christian standard, 433. 

CHAPTER XXXn.— Puritanism in the United States. 

Influence on the Beligious Sentiment, 435.— The world advancing in skepticism, 435. 
—The key to this condition, 43G.— The education of Protestants iusufacient to 
arrest the tide of infidelity, 436.— New England, political, religious, and moral 
theory, 436.— Want of religious unity, 437.— Rationalism, 437.— Fearful moral 
state of the Christian world, 438.— Spiritualism, 438.— The rapidly increasing 
numbers of mediums and advocates, 439.— Statistics, 410.— Their anti-Christian 
doctrines, 441.—- Skeptics, rationalists, etc., 441.— Causes of decline in religious 
sentiment, 442.— Unitarians, 443.— Universalists, 443.— Jews, 442.— Summary, 
445.— The results of private judgment in matters of faith, 446.— How can these 
anti-Christian influences be counteracted ? 447.— Cannot religious unity be at- 
tained ? 448,— Sectarian organizations must continue to fail, 449. 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER XXXm.— Centres of Public Sentiment. 

Ancient centres of public opinion, 450.— Luther a chief centre of Protestant senti- 
ment for his time, 451.— Other centres : the university of Paris, 451.— John Cal- 
vin In Switzerland, 452.— Gustavus Yasa, in Sweden, 452.— Henry Yin. in Eng- 
land, 452.— Cromwell, 453.— English universities, 453.— John Knox in Scotland, 
454.— The priesthood in Ireland, 454.— The Puritans in America, 455.— Puritan- 
ism a failure, 456.— An example of a radical agitator, fanatical and rationalistic, 
457.— Editors as centres of ultra-radical opinion, 458.— Influence of education and 
personal surroundings, 459.— Appeal to patriots and philanthropists, 460.— Ead- 
ical intolerance, 460.— Abuse of liberty of the press, 481.— M. Guizot's opinion 
of monarchy as a refuge from anarchy, 462.— Dangers to our country from parti- 
san agitations, 463.— Influence of religious fanaticism, 463.— The spirit of Puri- 
tanism revolutionary and sanguinary, 465.— A sample of a Puritan sermon, 4G6. 
—"Wiser statesmen of former years, 467. 

CHAPTER XXXIY.— Present Condition and Peospects of the Catholic 
Church. 
Eeligious statistics of the world, 469. — Statistics of the Catholic Church, 470.— Its 
rapid progress in heathen and Protestant countries, 470.— Condition of Protest- 
antism in contrast, 471.— The Catholic Church in the United States, 472.— Just 
comparison between Catholic and Protestant nations, 473.— France and Eng- 
land, 473.— Other countries, Belgium and Holland, 475.— Catholics in the United 
States, 475. — Heathen converts to Catholicism, 476.— Its principles adapted to 
men of all classes and to all governments, 476.— Its superiority to the sects, 
477.— Effects of true religion, 478.— The mission of the Church is a spiritual 
one, 479.— Summary of the positions assumed in this work, 479.— Conclusion, 
4S0. 



CHRISTIAnTY AND ITS CONFLICTS, 

ANCIENT AND MODERN, 



CHAPTER I. 

CONDITION OF THE WOELD AT THE BIETH OF CIIKIST. 

The idolatry, inlmmamty, licentiousness, tyranny, and 
persecution of the early centuries of the Christian era, were 
legitimate offspring of the universally received philosophies 
of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Epicurus. From the time 
when Zoroaster reformed the order of the Persian Magi, 
with their worship of fire and the other elements as em- 
blems of the Deity, until the Christian era, Pantheistic hy- 
potheses had exercised a dominating influence over the 
religious, political, moral, and social affairs of the nations 
of earth. In this world, fire, air, water, earth, etc., were 
regarded and worshipped as gods who presided over the tem- 
poral destinies of mankind, and the chief end of life Vv^as 
the pursuit of happiness. The ancient pantheists also be- 
lieved in a resurrection after death, and another spiritual 
existence similar to that of this world, but presided over by 
two demons — one good, Jupiter or Oromasdes, and one evil, 
Pluto or Ahrimanes. They regarded these gods as beings 
who had been born. 
1 



2? CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

From this parent source sprang the various pantheistic 
sects which afterward extended oyer the world, like the Chal- 
deans and ancient Greeks, who worshipped the stars ; the 
Druids of ancient Britain, who worshipped mundane objects, 
and believed in the transmigration of souls, human sacrifices, 
and exercised supreme temporal and spiritual jurisdiction over 
their subjects ; the ancient Egyptians, who regarded the sun 
and moon as gods — and worshipped them under the names of 
Osiris and Isis ; the Anaxagorians, who believed that mat- 
ter was endowed with mind — that originally all things were 
mixed up together, and then mind came and arranged them 
all in distinct order ; the Socratic sect, which adopted most 
of the views of the master of Socrates, Anaxagoras; the 
Sophists, founded by Thales, Solon, etc. ; the Stoic sect, 
founded by Zeno ; the Cynic, founded by Antisthenes ; the 
Epicurean, by Epicurus; the Academic, by Plato; the 
Peripatetic, by Aristotle ; the Skeptics or Pyrrheic school ; and 
numerous other sects. All of these schools of philosophy 
were derived from the three great schools of the ancients : the 
Natural (study of nature), taught by Pythagoras and Thales; 
the Ethical (study of morals and the things of life), taught 
by Socrates ; and the Dialectic (argumentative, or polemic 
sect), taught by Clitomachus. 

One of the best exponents of these ancient philosophies 
was Plato, the pupil of Socrates. He condensed into a sin- 
gle philosophical code the principles of Socrates, Pythagoras, 
and Heraclitus, embracing all subjects pertaining to morals, 
politics, intellectual culture, and society. He imbibed many 
of the notions of his predecessors, but he also originated 
many new ideas respecting God, a future state, the laws 
which should govern society, and the duties which men owe 
to God and to their fellow-creatures. 

Plato recognized two primary causes or principles of all 
things : " God and Matter— \\iq former Mind, and the lat- 
ter the Cause.'''' He supposed that this matter originally 
possessed life, sensation, and motion, but without order or 
form ; and that when God pervaded it, it then became en- 



THE WOELD AT THE BIETH OF CHEIST. d 

do wed with intelligence, as well as life and motion, was 
governed by definite laws, and assumed distinctive forms 
and harmonious organizations. The gods of Plato were 
vague, spiritual manifestations, possessing intelligence and 
powers superior to those of mortals, and capable of taking 
possession of material objects, and governing them according 
to certain natural and uniform laws. He saw gods in the 
earth, the sun, moon, and stars, in the instincts of animals, in 
the laws of Nature, and he adored these manifestations of the 
Infinite rather than the creative Being Himself. Nature was 
his god— a subtle, intelligent, ever-active, and potent spirit, 
similar, but superior to the human soul. In other words, he 
was a Pantheist. He supposed that the gods superintended 
all of the afiairs of men, as well as the laws governing the 
three Mnj;doms of nature. He also believed in demons. He 
considered the earth the oldest of all the deities, and that 
the gods are chiefly composed of fire. 

Plato regarded the soul as an abstract idea of spirit, dif- 
fused in all directions, immortal, transmigratory, and com- 
posed of three different principles— the reasoning, located in 
the head; the appetitive, located around the navel and liver ; 
and the passionate, located around the heart 

Although Plato and his master, Socrates, professed to 
believe in the immortality of the soul, in a future existence 
after death, and in superior spiritual beings, who pervade 
and govern all things in heaven and on earth, and whom 
they recognized and worshipped as gods, yet these ideas were 
vague and material. They possessed no just ideas of the attri- 
butes of the Infinite Creator, of a future state of rewards and 
punishments, of the human soul, or of the true relations 
which exist between God and men. 

Not one of the old philosophers before Christ — Thales, 
Pythagoras, Xenophanes, Democritus, Plato, Xenophon, 
Aristotle, Zeno, Diogenes— believed in one immaterial and 
personal God. Nearly every one of them believed that the 
soul perished at death. At the advent of Christ, the civil- 
ized world entertained no correct ideas of God, their account- 



4 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

ability to Him, or of the immortality of tlie soul. Their 
highest conceptions of duty toward God, themselves, their 
fellow-men, and society, were comprehended in the four moral 
virtues of "prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice." 
The Christian; virtues of faith, hope, charity, and loveto God 
and man, had no place in their minds or thoughts. Says 
Allies : " That God created the visible world and the souls of 
men out of nothing, was an idea never reached by Pythag- 
oras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, or any Greek or 

Roman mind before Christ It is in vain to seek for any 

certain hope of immortal life beyond the grave in Greek or 
Roman Hterature There is no distinction made be- 
tween^ the souls of birds, beasts, fishes, insects, and men ; 
none in their origin, none in their destination; each at 
its birth catches for itself a tiny spark of the world-soul, 
passes through its little life, and is resolved into the great 
world-source again.. In truth, there are the same ob- 
jections at the bottom to Marcus Aurelius and toEpictetus. 
Their religious system is a complete materialism. It recog- 
nizes only two principles. Matter, and an active Force eter- 
nally indwelling in matter and forming it. It knows of no 
incorporeal things, save as our own abstractions. God is the 
unity of a force embracing the whole universe, penetrating 
all things, assuming all forms, and as such, a subtle fluid, 
fire, ether, or spirit, under which the Stoies understood a fifth 
element, to which the air served as a material basis. In this 
ethereal fiery force all modes of existence of the world-body 
animated by it are contained beforehand, and develop them- 
selves regularly out of it ; it lives and moves itself in every 
thing, is the common source of all life and all desire. ISTow 
as in this system God and necessity are one, every thing 
ethical becomes physical. The soul of man is of like sub- 
stance, and so is a breath or fire like the world-soul, of ' 
which it is a portion; but it manifests itself in man at 'the 
same time as the force from w^hich knowledge and action 
proceed, as intelligence, will, and self-consciousness." * 
* Formation of Christendom, pp. 86-88, 1*73, 



THE WOELD AT THE BIETH OP CHRIST. 5 

During the four thousand years which preceded the 
Christian era, the philosophies of the world successively grew 
out of the natural wants and requirements of mankind. 
Man, as an individual, and in his relations to his family, to 
society, and to the state, required certain fixed rules of ac- 
tion, in order to secure the greatest amount of worldly pros- 
perity and happiness. As an individual, both instinct and 
experience taught him that truthfulness, honesty, and fair 
dealing were necessary to command the respect and confi- 
dence of his fellow-men ; while their opposites always created 
contempt, hatred, and an evil reputation. He knew that 
intemperance in eating, drinking, and sexual pleasures, en- 
tailed disease, sufiering, and an abridgment of life, and he 
instinctively cultivated temperance and moderation in the 
gratification of his appetites and passions. Intercourse with 
his fellows showed him that the practice of gentleness, kind- 
ness, charity, and mercy, generated in others kindred senti- 
ments, together with emotions of gratitude and affection ; 
while selfishness and oppression called forth hatred and 
curses. He saw that unbecoming pride and pomp excited 
envy and calumny, and not unfrequently led to poverty and 
want ; therefore he regarded modesty and economy as praise- 
worthy virtues. 

In the management of his family he was governed by the 
same general principles. I^atural affection pi-ompted him 
to act for the highest good of wife, children, and other kin- 
dred. For the sustenance and training of the family, in- 
dustry and thrift were indispensable. To maintain relations 
of love, respect, and mutual trust and confidence, it was 
necessary to inculcate principles of truthfulness, justice, 
honor, and virtue. 

in his relations to society and to the general government, 
the individual found it necessary to obey and to aid in sus- 
taining the laws and the legally constituted authorities, in 
order that his own person, property, and rights might be 
preserved. Naturally desirous of personal independence and 
riches, for the sake of the comforts and luxuries which they 



D CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

procure, the individual saw that only a well-organized so- 
ciety, upheld by just laws, and a good government, could 
secure to him these privileges. He was a loyal and law- 
abiding citizen, because disloyalty and acts of lawlessness 
would tend to impair the stability of the government, the 
efficacy of the laws, and endanger his own liberties and 
property. These ancient philosophers, statesmen, and jurists, 
in framing their moral, political, and social codes, were gov- 
erned solely by the natural wants and necessities of men, 
and not by any abstract principles of right and morality. If 
they included in their codes certain moral maxims, it was be- 
cause immorality and vice were certain to cause disease and 
suffering ; if they established the tenure of property on a 
secure basis, and conferred upon the people the rights of 
suffrage, and other political privileges, it was because an op- 
posite course would have led to agrarianism, anarchy, and 
revolutions. As these men regarded the pursuit of happiness 
as the chief good and end of life, they submitted all practical 
affairs to the touchstone of experience, instead of moral prin- 
ciple. If experience had demonstrated that falsehood, theft, 
and licentiousness would have afforded them the highest de- 
gree of happiness, they would, with equal facility, have le- 
galized and practised them. Almost of necessity, all laws 
derived from simple human reason, and founded on the natu- 
ral desires and wants of men, and having for their aim and 
object temporal pleasure, must be imperfect, and productive 
of a corrupt and debased society. It is only upon the ex- 
alted and disinterested principles of Christianity that a stable 
code of laws, or any beneficent and permanent government 
can be founded. 

The ancients formed their political and social codes solely 
with reference to this world. N'ot a single element having 
reference to a future state was incorporated into their social 
organizations. They enacted laws, established customs and 
habits, and lived in all respects with reference to the present, 
and with the idea that at death existence ceased. 

In contrasting the ancient civilizations with our own 



THE WOELD AT THE BIKTH OF CHEIST. 7 

witli respect to the individual, Balmes truly observes : " If 
we profoundly study the question, without suffering our- 
selves to be led into error and extravagance, by the desire 
of passing for deep observers ; if we call to our aid a just 
and cool philosophy, supported by the facts of history, we 
see that the principal difference between the ancient civiliza- 
tion and our own with respect to the individual is, that man, 
considered as man, was not properly esteemed. Ancient na- 
tions did not want either the feeling of personal independ- 
ence, or the pleasure of feeling themselves men ; the fault was 
not in the heart, but in the head. What they wanted was 
the comprehension of the dignity of man; the high idea 
which Christianity has given us of ourselves, while, at the 
same time, with admirable wisdom, it has shown us our in- 
firmities. What ancient societies wanted, what all those, 
where Christianity does not prevail, have wanted, and will 
continue to want, is this respect, and the consideration which 
surrounds every individual, every man, inasmuch as he is a 
man. Among the Greeks, the Greeks are every thing ; stran- 
gers, barbarians, are nothing. In Rome, the title of Roman 
citizen makes the man : he who wants this is nothing. In 
Christian countries, the infant who is born deformed, or de- 
prived of some member, excites compassion, and becomes an 
object of the tenderest solicitude ; it is enough that he is a 
man, and unfortunate. Among the ancients this human 
being was regarded as useless and contemptible*, in certain 
cities, as, for example, at Lacedsemon, it was forbidden to 
nourish him, and, by command of the magistrates charged 
with the regulation of births, horrible to relate! he was 
thrown into a ditch. He was a hianan being ; but what 
matter ? He was a human being who would be of no use ; 
and society, without compassion, did not wish to . undertake 
the charge of his support. If you read Plato and Aristotle, 
you will see the horrible doctrine which they professed on 
the subject of abortion and infanticide; you will see the 
means which these philosophers imagined, in order to pre- 
vent the excess of population ; and you will be sensible of 



8 CHEISTIAITITY AlTD ITS CONFLICTS. 

the immense progress society has made under the influence 
of Christianity, in all that relates to man. Are not the pub- 
lic games, those horrible scenes where hundreds of men were 
slaughtered to amuse an inhuman multitude, an eloquent 
testimony.to the little value attached to man, when he was 
sacrificed with so much barbarism for reasons so frivolous ? " * 
^ The introduction of Christianity created a radical change 
m the entire organization of society, by revealing the mo- 
mentous fact that the true end and object of the present 
transient life is to prepare for a future one which will be 
everlasting. Upon this subject Collard observes : " Human 
societies are born, live, and die upon the earth ; there they 
accomplish their destinies. But they contain not the whole 
man. After his engagement to society there still remains in 
him the more noble part of his nature; those high faculties 
by which he elevates himself to God, to a future life, and to 
the unknown blessings of an invisible worid. We, indi- 
viduals, each with a separate and distinct existence, with an 
identical person, we, truly beings endowed with immortality, 
we have a higher destiny than that of states."! M. Guizot 
thus alludes to this subject: "Where the history of civili- 
zation ends, when there is no more to be said of the present 
life, man instinctively demands if all is over— if that is the end 
of all things ? This, then, is the last problem, and the grand- 
est, to which the history of civilization can lead us. It is suffi- 
cient that I have marked its place, and its sublime character."^- 
In common with neariy all of the ancient philosophers, 
Plato supposed that happiness was made up of wisdom in 
council, good health, a capacity for physical enjoyment, good 
fortune, noble family, good reputation, and riches. Every 
act of life was rendered subservient to the attainment of these 
ends. Laws and statutes were founded, and the entire frame- 
work of somety was regulated upon these principles. 

At the birth^ of Christ the political, moral, and social codes 
of the Koman empire were founded upon these pantheistic 
* Prot. and Catli. Comp., p. 126. 
t Opin. sur le Proj. de Loi, etc., pp. 1 and 17. % ^st of Civ., p. SO. 



THE WOELD AT THE BIETH OF CHEIST. \) 

philosophies. Obedience to constituted authorities and to 
existing laws was inculcated ; but the rights, comforts, and 
liberties of the poor and humble were held subservient to the 
pride, luxury, and personal gratification of the noble and rich. 
Abstractly, there was no respect for justice or the natural 
rights of man. Laws were enacted for the exclusive benefit of 
the higher classes ; while females, artisans, and slaves were 
degraded to the level of brutes, and employed as instruments 
for the gratification of the passions and pleasures of the 
wealthy and powerful. Worshippers of gods but little 
superior to men, and believing with Epicurus that the chief 
good and end of life consists in " the pleasures which arise 
from favors, and those which are derived from amatory 
pleasures, from music, and from the contemplation of beauty," 
they had no adequate appreciation of their fellow-creatures 
as rational and responsible beings of a common Father. 

A brief glance at the condition of the Roman empire 
from the foundation of Rome to the birth of Jesus, will 
enable us to understand better how the untenable theories to 
which we have alluded, gained such an ascendency over the 
minds of the people. 

For more than seven hundred years before the Christian 
era, there had been a continued succession of struggles be- 
tween the selfish and corrupt patricians on the one hand, to 
maintain their ascendency and unjust privileges, and the op- 
pressed plebeians on the other, to secure their political, civil, 
and social rights. linearly every generation had been cursed 
with civil wars between these conflicting classes, but unfor- 
tunately riches and nobility usually predominated over 
poverty and humble birth. At the foundation of Rome, '753 
years b. c. when Romulus divided his subjects into two dis- 
tinct classes or castes of " Patroois " and " Clients,^'* conferring 
upon the former especial rights and privileges, and degrading 
the other to a condition of dependence and serfdom, he 
established a precedent which exercised a dominating influ- 
ence upon the liberties of the plebeian class until the down- 
fall of the Roman empire. Occasionally a Servius, a Brutus, 



10 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

a Valerius, or a Gracchus, would appear and contend 
manfully for the rights and liberties of the people, and 
for the moment secure partial justice; but these "friends 
of the people " were almost invariably removed by the as- 
sassin's dagger, leaving their friends Avithout advocates or 
defenders. 

Not only w^ere the male plebeians deprived of their liber- 
ties, but their females were degraded to a still lower point in 
the scale of humanity. They were looked upon as mere ad- 
juncts to the uses and pleasures of men — without intellect, 
moral responsibility, or the dignity or rights which pertain to 
the other sex. They were valued just in proportion as they 
were capable of contributing to the comforts or lusts of their 
male oppressors. Instead of being recognized as the equals 
and companions of their husbands, fathers, and brothers, and 
allowed to exercise those elevating moral, intellectual, and 
social influences which so eminently pertain to the sex, they 
were subordinated in the social scale to the rank of mere 
painted puppets and playthings. They were well housed, 
fed, nursed, petted, and taught to sing and dance, so that their 
persons might afford more sensual gratification to their male 
companions; but their minds and their consciences Were 
allowed to remain undeveloped— crushed beneath the selfish- 
ness and tyranny of men. 

After years of civil war and turbulence under the direc- 
tion of the triumviri— Pomi^ej, Crassus, and Csesar— during 
which the victorious Eoman legions had annexed to the 
imperial territory portions of Asia, Africa, Greece, Italy, 
Gaul, Spain, and Britain, the star of Csesar was in the ascend- 
ant, and he was created supreme dictator of the Roman 
empire in 46 b. c. 

Having consolidated his power by decisive victories over 
Cato and the sons of Pompey in Africa and Spain, he re- 
turned to Rome, to rest upon his laurels, and to govern the em- 
pire. But Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators, regarding 
him as a usurper, a tyrant, and a destroyer of the liberties of 
the people, surrounded him in the Senate, and stabbed him 



THE WOELD AT THE BERTH OF CHEIST. 11 

to death at the base of Pompey's statue. A few years after 
his death, the battle of Actium gave to his nephew and heir, 
Octavius Augustus, the imperial throne, upon which he was ^ 
still seated at the birth of Christ. 

In forming an opinion respecting the comparative in- 
fluence of Christianity upon the civilization of any given 
nation, it is necessary to take into consideration the period 
when such nation existed, the philosophies which obtained, 
the knowledge and religious light possessed, and the political, 
social, and moral influences in operation. Humboldt, in his 
" Cosmos," expresses the opinion that the philosophers who 
lived before Christ were nearly as far advanced in physical 
knowledge, and in the cultivation of literature, languages, 
and the fine arts, as were the subjects of Augustus at the 
commencement of the Christian era. But in the midst of 
this surpassing material prosperity we are forced to acknowl- 
edge the sad fact " that, in the case of nations as well as in the 
case of individuals, the highest point of material prosperity, 
and simple human progress and enlightenment may coexist 
with the lowest degree of moral and religious debasement." * 
Even in the best periods of Grecian civilization, according 
to Xenophon, men were selfish, cruel, licentious, and stran- 
gers to charity, benevolence, and brotherly love. Pride 
and self-gratification absorbed all of their thoughts and 

desires. 

Practically the men of the Augustan age were disciples of 
Epicurus. They did not regard death as of any consequence, 
believing that at death existence ceases. In life, they regard- 
ed sensation as the source of all good and all evil, and that 
death was only the privation of sensation. 

God was regarded by nearly all of the ancient philosophers 
as an impersonal and incorporeal spiritual principle, com- 
posed chiefly of fire, pervading all substances, presiding over 
all organizations, over reproduction, germination, growth, 
life, instinct, and reason. Subdivisions of this god-principle 
were recognized, and as these separate parts took possession 
* " Triumph of tte Catholic Church," page 40. 



^^ CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

of different objects, whether animate or inaoiraate, they were 
esteemed and AYorshipped as gods and goddesses. On the 
physical decay of these objects, the spirits which had animated 
them were supposed to return again to their original spirit 
fountain, or element, or else to enter into some other being or 
object as its animating and directing spirit. The soul was 
supposed to be migratory, at one time inhabiting a Cfesar, at 
another a slave, or a tiger, or a reptile. 

With such ideas respecting God and the human soul, it 
was natural that idolatry, selfishness, licentiousness, and gen- 
eral corruption should prevail. 

The laws as well as the morals of the Roman empire were 
founded upon these absurd philosophical hvpotheses. The 
laws and customs of nations have always borne the impress 
of the prevalent philosophies. In proportion as the attributes 
of God, the rights of man, and the obligations of virtue have 
been appreciated, so have been civilization and human prog- 
ress. If the morals of the subjects of Augustus C^sar were 
corrupt, if the laws were unjust and despotic, if humanity 
was debased, if the rights of the people were ignored, and if 
the gratification of the senses was the paramount object of 
life, we may trace the cause to the fallacious doctrines of the 
philosophical schools of that era. 

Another result of the existing philosophies was human 
slavery with Its most repulsive features. Some historians have 
supposed that more than one-half of the male subjects of the 
Roman empire under Augustus were slaves. These helpless 
victims of pagan superstition were regarded and treated in 
the same manner as a modern jockey regards and treats his 
stud of horses. The latter shelters, feeds, and carefully 
grooms his animals, in order that they may the better con- 
duce to his pride and pleasure; but when they become old 
and useless, they are sent away to die of starvation or be 
shot. So did the polished Roman citizen shelter, feed, and 
attend his slaves, so long as they were capable of pandering 
to his enjoyments; but when they became old, and worn out 
m service, they were sent to the islands of the Tiber to perish 



THE WOELD AT THE BIKTH OF CHEIST. 13 

of exposure and starvation. And tlie Eoman laws, founded 
uj^on Aristotelian, Platonian, and Epicurean ideas, sanctioned 
and legalized these atrocities. 

As too great an increase of population miglit become 
troublesome, entail care and expense, and thus curtail tlie 
pleasures of life, abortions and infanticide were sanctioned 
and legalized by the Roman statutes. In these barbarous 
practices, the Roman citizens were not only sustained by 
law, but by the precepts of Aristotle. 

As we have before intimated, the degradation of females 
to an inferior position in the scale of humanity was another 
characteristic feature of the civilization of the period to which 
we are alluding. Females were universally regarded as an 
inferior order of beings, created to gratify the sensual de- 
sires of men, and to perpetuate the human race. They were 
therefore mere adjuncts to the Roman household establish- 
ments, as objects of luxury and utility; but every thing like 
intellectual companionship and moral dignity were denied 
them by their husbands and masters. The laws and customs 
sanctioned these acts of injustice, until eventually the sex 
became utterly degraded and debased. Doubtless there were 
rare instances of virtue among the females of pagan Rome, 
but they cannot be regarded otherwise than as exceptions to 
the rule. What else could have been expected when we 
contemplate the corrupt teachings of the accepted philoso- 
phers and law-makers ? " Who is ignorant," says Balmes, 
" of the scandalous advice of the sage Solon, with respect to 
the lending of women for the purpose of improving the race ? 
Who has not blushed to read what the divine Plato, in his 
' Republic,' says of the propriety and manner of making wo- 
men share in the public games ? Let us throw a veil over 
recollections so dishonorable to human wisdom. When the 
chief legislators and sages so far forgot the first elements of 
morality, and the most ordinary inspirations of nature, what 
must have been the case with the vulgar ? " * When women 
of the most noble birth and in the highest positions openly 
« " Protestantism and Catholicism Compared," page 444. 



li CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

and voluntarily degraded themselves to the shameless level 
of courtesans, it was natural that those in less elevated con- 
ditions should follow the example. Regard the scandalous 
debaucheries and the disgraceful conduct of Julia, the daugh- 
ter of Augustus Caesar, and the banishment of herself and 
her paramours from Rome, not for their actual immoralities, 
but for the shameless public exhibition of them. 

The conduct of Messalina, the wife of the emperor 
Claudius, has scarcely a parallel in ancient or modern times. 
This infamous woman not only indulged her gross licen- 
tiousness openly with various paramours, but she actu- 
ally married one of them, Silvius, while the emperor was 
still living. Her obscene debaucheries were only equalled 
by her cruel murders of the rich and noble for the sake of 
seizing their property and squandering it with reckless ex- 
travagance on her dissolute companions. 

In point of avarice, ambition, and sanguinary cruelty, her 
successor, the empress Agrippina, the mother of Nero, ex- 
celled her. If she was less licentious than Messalina, she 
was equally cruel, and more ambitious and avaricious. In 
order to place her infamous son upon the throne, she induced 
the court physician to poison her husband Claudius. In the 
same manner the empress Livia had previously hastened the 
death of Augustus, by presenting him with poisoned figs, in 
order that her dissolute son Tiberius might sooner enter 
upon his career of despotism and debauchery. 

Among the courtesans of N'ero was Poppsea Sabina, who, 
after living with him in open adultery, induced him to put 
away his wife Octavia, to cause the murder of his mother 
Agrippina, and then to marry her. 

Plancina, the abandoned wife of Piso, at the instigation 
of Tiberius, went to Syria for the express purpose of sedu- 
cing and debauching his nephew and rival Germanicus. 
This unfortunate prince was poisoned soon after the arrival 
of this vile prostitute and murderess. 

With such examples in high places, with public sentiment 
perverted by the teachers of morality, and with laws and re- 



THE WOELD AT THE BIRTH OF CHEIST. 15 

ligious rights whicli inculcated obscenity and licentiousness 
as legitimate, it is not surprising that the women of Eome 
abandoned themselves to the revels of the temples of Yenus, 
of the public games, and of the numerous public brothels. 

If we examine critically the condition of the people of 
Christ's own native province of Galilee, we shall find a so- 
ciety almost as depraved as that of the Latin race. The 
little town of Nazareth, where the Saviour was born, and 
resided almost exclusively during the first thirty years of His 
life, was noted throughout Judea in consequence of the wick- 
edness and depravity of its inhabitants. The most active 
portion of the life of Jesus, viz., the three years preceding 
His crucifixion, was passed in Judea, especially in Galilee, 
Jerusalem, Samaria, and in " the region round about Judea." 
The people were composed principally of Jews, Greeks, 
Syrians, Phoenicians, and Arabs. A majority of them were 
Jews. The population of Jerusalem was made up of Phari- 
sees, Sadducees, Mystics, Roman officers and soldiers, and a 
considerable number of Gentiles from other parts of the em- 
pire. Those who were not actually idolaters were more or 
less tainted with pantheism. Even the most enlightened of 
the Jews had lost, to a great extent, nearly all correct ideas 
of God, of immortality, and of the religion which had been 
taught by Moses and the prophets. As legitimate descend- 
ants of Abraham, they believed themselves still to be the 
chosen people of Israel, endowed and favored by the Al- 
mighty above all other men. They were doubtless honest in 
their convictions that they yet possessed those divine pre- 
cepts and religious observances which had been held and 
practised by their forefathers under Moses and other divinely 
inspired prophets. They were intensely partisan in their 
feelings; but, as a subjugated race, they had long been 
thrown in contact with the Gentile world— with the Latin, 
Greek, Phcenician, Syrian, and Arabian subjects of the em- 
pire—and they had imperceptibly imbibed many of the 
idolatrous ideas of these men. They were rigid disciplina- 
rians, but not a fevf of the peculiar notions and superstitions 



16 



CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 



of the Romau subjects of the Csssars had become incor- 
porated into their religion. While actually hating the em- 
peror, and his procurators, and other subordinates, thev had 
been continually and unconsciously influenced by the preva- 
lent philosoi^hies of the period. If their conclusions varied 
somewhat from those of the Roman citizens, it is neverthe- 
less true that a sufficient number of errors and superstitions 
became mixed up with their theology to render it displeasing 
in the sight of the Son of man. 

The Roman civilization had produced a still more de- 
moralizing influence upon the Sadducees. They were all of 
them avowed infidels or atheists, and their ideas were more 
material and mundane than those of the pagans themselves. 

The Samaritans could not be regarded as either Jews or 
pagans; but they were godless, skeptical, and in the main 
pantheistic. 

Both Galilee and Jerusalem contained large numbers of 
actual pagans, who openly proclaimed their sentiments, and 
who were especially encouraged and protected by the gov- 
ernment. 

The powerful influence exercised by Christianity during 
the days of Christ and His apostles, upon the civilization of 
that period, in the improvement of morals, the conversion of 
unbelievers, the amelioration of the moral and social status 
of women, and of the general condition of those in bondage, 
was due in a great measure to the miracles which were 
wrought, and to the special operations of the Holy Spirit. 
Without these divine agencies, the Christian religion could 
not have secured a foothold in a world subjugated to pagan 
philosophies and idolatry, and to the prevalent superstitions 
of Judaism. Unaided by the marvellous deeds performed 
by the Saviour and His disciples, Christianity could not have 
survived the crucifixion of the Son of man. Fnassisted by 
supernatural power from on high, the Church which Christ 
founded would have been summarily swept from the earth 
by the multitudes of idolaters and perverted Jews who were 
in the midst of them, and sought their lives. Even with 



THE WOELD AT THE BIETH OF CHEIST. 17 

these supernatural advantages, the earlier generations of 
Christians were many times apparently upon the brink of 
extermination. Often were they pursued to mountains, 
caves, and desolate places to escape massacre at the hands 
of sanguinary Pharisees, Sadducees, and pagans. These per- 
secutions were continued until the accession of Const antinc, 
under whose wise reign Christianity was fostered and Chris- 
tians were protected. 

The Christian Church has undoubtedly been the most po- 
tent agent of both ancient and modern civilization. Indeed, 
during the first 1,500 years of our era it was almost the only 
agent of moral civilization. We use the term moral in con- 
tradistinction to that material civilization which pertains to 
art, science, and literature. It includes those obligations 
and duties which man owes to his Creator and to his fellow- 
men, like the love of God, faith in the Christian religion, 
brotherly love, charity, hope, gentleness, benevolence, chas- 
tity, and all of those sentiments and feelings which elevate, 
refine, and Christianize mankind. During the first centuries, 
as we have already observed, the Church existed in the 
midst of an advanced state of material civilization. Poetry, 
oratory, philosophy, painting, sculpture, architecture, and 
whatever was calculated to please the senses, were all in a 
very high state of development. But, morally and socially, 
the world was enveloped in the darkness of paganism and 
Pharisaical superstition. If gorgeous synagogues, palaces, 
temples, and public baths were to be seen on every hand, 
adorned by the highest genius of the architect, the sculptor, 
and the painter, with their mute appeals to the lovers of 
grandeur, beauty, utility, and luxury, let it not be forgotten 
that idolatry, gross sensuality, contempt for the female sex, 
indiiference to all moral, social, and domestic ties, and utter 
selfishness presided over these marvellous tabernacles. If 
spacious amphitheatres, arenas, and parks of fabulous cost 
were everywhere open and free to the Roman citizen, let it 
be remembered that they were the offspring of pagan cruelty, 
pagan intolerance, and of a public sentiment which held man 



18 CHRISTIAOTTY AND ITS COJJ^FLICTS. 

in the same estimation as it held the wild beast of the arena. 
If heaven-born genius wrought from marble or canvas the 
human form vivified, and perfect in symmetry and grace, let 
it be acknowledged that the representations, while enchant- 
ing the eyes, made their chief appeal to the grosser passions. 
If literature scattered profusely her polished sentences, glit- 
tering with flashes of imagination, Avit, fancy, and beautiful 
and high-wrought descriptions, her efforts were squandered 
in i^raise of some lascivious heathen goddess, or to arouse 
ignoble sentiments and emotions. With no apioreciation of 
individual dignity or moral excellence, the dominant object 
of the people of Jewish and pagan Kome and Greece, during 
the first three centuries of the Christian era, was to please, 
to excite, and to gratify their senses. Whatever stood in 
the way of their sensual gratification was swept aside, and 
the faculties and lives of women, children, and bondmen 
were all rendered subservient to the one controlling idea. 
On one occasion, after a victory, the inhuman spectacles of 
the amphitheatre and the arena were kept up for a period 
of twenty-three days, and at a cost of more than six thou- 
sand human lives. 

If heroic deeds were performed, they were inspired solely 
by national pride, and a desire to enhance the power and 
glory of the republic or the empire. Individual dignity 
and moral rectitude were not taken into account. To be 
able to say, Civis Romanum sum, was the highest and sole 
ambition. The state was father, master, and the only foun- 
tain of honor and glory. In place of personal pride, ambi- 
tion, respect, and honor, individuality was absorbed in 
national power and greatness. Actuated and inspired by 
these general sentiments, the Roman citizen was an object 
of unmitigated selfishness and unbridled sensuality, unre- 
strained by any appreciation of the dignity of man, or of 
simple justice, humanity, or moral rectitude. 

It was to couA^ert, reform, and save a world composed of 
such materials, that God became incarnate upon earth. It 
was in the midst of such pagan and Jewish wolves that the 



THE WORLD AT THE BIETH OF CHEIST. 19 

Lamb of God first commenced His holy mission ; and as His 
disciples and their successors struggled on in the heavenly- 
course during the first three hundred years, they preached 
and prayed, and adored the living God, in the midst of the 
most cruel persecutions, and with pagan swords continually 
at their throats, often sealing their faith with their blood. 
While Christ and His apostles were preaching brotherly love, 
charity, mercy, forbearance, and forgiveness, the idolatrous 
and bloodthirsty tyrant and emperor Tiberius, and his pliant 
minions, were slaughtering their enemies and the friends of 
the republic by thousands, to gratify their desire for revenge 
and bloodshed. While a handful of devoted Christians were 
inculcating by words and acts the divine precept, " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor 
as thyself," the subjects of Tiberius— those lauded men of 
the " golden age "—held the entire female sex in a condition 
of beastly degradation, in order to gratify their unhallowed 
lusts, and retained in servile bondage hundreds of thousands 
of white slaves to minister to their pride, pomp, and luxury. 
While the servants of Christ respected every creature made 
in the image of God, and endeavored to ameliorate, elevate, 
and Christianize every soul, whether bond or free, the haughty 
emperor and his proud Roman citizens were daily sacrificing 
their dependants and slaves to some heathen god, or subjecting 
them to the deadly contests of the amphitheatre of wild beasts, 
or the gladiatorial arena, to gratify an inhuman and blood- 
thirsty mob. The followers of Jesus preached and practised 
morality, chastity, benevolence, brotherly love, and raised 
aloft those divine principles which dignify and ennoble men 
and women as individuals. Tiberius and his classical pagans 
advocated and practised the pursuit of pleasure and self- 
indulgence as the chief objects of life, and made humanity, 
morality, justice, and even decency subservient to them. 
Ideas of individual dignity, or of spiritual and moral re- 
sponsibility, were never dreamed of by these materially culti- 
vated pagans. 

The Jews of Jerusalem and Galilee were rather less 



2^ CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

powerful to oppress and persecute Jesus and His disciples 
than their Roman rulers, but in their hearts they were 
equally malignant and vindictive. 

In such a condition of society, it required the continual 
presence and influence of the Almighty to introduce and 
estaMish the religion of Christ. Opposed as it was to the 
entn-e social, moral, and religious system of the age— clash- 
ing with the prejudices, the selfishness, the licentiousness, 
and the pride of the people, it was resisted with deadly hos- 
tility at every step. Our Saviour, His apostles, and their 
successors were regarded as personal enemies who had come 
among them to overthrow their cherished philosophies and 
the^superstitions of Judaism, and to disorganize and chano-e 
their entire social, moral, and religious condition, and to sub- 
stitute instead the divine maxims of Jesus of Nazareth 
ii^arnestly believing in the received religions and philosophies 
proud of national glory, but utterly regardless of indimdual 
honor and dignity, they lived solely for personal gratifica- 
tion, and they rendered every thing in the political, mor- 
al, and social sphere subservient to this end. It was not 
strange, therefore, that these men thirsted for the blood of 
Christ and His followers. It was not strange that the Church 
was moistened with the blood of Christian martyrs durino- 
the first centuries of the Christian era. Mere human agency 
could not have sustained and preserved the Christian religion 
until the conversion of Constantino. The elements of oppo- 
sition were too numerous, too powerful, too deeply rooted in 
•thei^erverted and vicious hearts of the people, too deadly 
and determined to have afforded a hope of the successful in- 
troduction and establishment of Christianity, unless it had 
been continually aided by a direct interposition from on 
high. This same blessed influence has remained with the 
same Church, and sustained it and blessed it up to the pres- 
ent moment. While false teachers and false prophets have 
everywhere sprung into existence, blown about by every 
wind of doctrine, setting up creeds of men in place of the 
religion of Christ, distracting the world by innumerable con- 



THE WOELD AT THE BIETH OF CHEIST. 21 

tradictory, and contending sects, and rendering the Chris- 
tian religion (which is composed of " one Lord, one faith, 
and one baptism" ) a mocker j and a byword to unbelievers, 
the Catholic Church has ever remained where Jesus her 
founder planted her — upon the rock of truth — indestruc- 
tible, immutable, and permanent. 

M. Guizot, in his able and usually candid work on the 
" History of Civilization in Europe," asserts that there was no 
" Christian Church, with its institutions, its magistrates, its 
authority," until the fourth century. He sa|)poses that the 
Church which was founded by Christ before His ascension, 
with its organization of ecclesiastical " magistrates," endowed 
with " authority " as pastors and shepherds over the Christian 
flock, which was under the sjDecial protection of the Holy 
Spirit, and against which the gates of hell should not prevail, 
had no established principles, no discipline, and no authorized 
ministers during the first three centuries of the Christian era. 
'^ In its infancy," says M. Guizot, " in its very babyhood, Chris- 
tian society presents itself before us as a simple association of 
men possessing the same faith and opinions, the same senti- 
ments and feelings. The first Christians met to enjoy to- 
gether their common emotions, their common religious con- 
victions. At this time v/e find no settled form of docj^ine, 
no settled rules of discipline, no body of magistrates." * 

Surely M. Guizot will not deny that when Christ returned 
to heaven. He left behind Him a visible Church, with regu- 
larly consecrated ministers, possessing authority not only to 
teach and preach a " settled form of doctrine " — like faith, 
repentance, baptism, and obedience to the commandments' — 
but that He actually designated a head " magistrate " to this 
divinely instituted ecclesiastical organization, in the person 
of Peter, who was to preside over the other officers of the 
Church and see that her " discipline " and her " doctrines " were 
faithfully obeyed. No one will deny that it was the chief mis- 
sion of Christ on earth to instruct mankind in a " settled form 
of doctrine," and to found a visible ecclesiastical organization 
* Vol. i., p. 49. 



22 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

or church, with teachers and ministers to inculcate and per- 
petuate this doctrine; and no one will assert that our Saviour 
failed in His object. It would be unreasonable to suppose 
that God would establish His Church, His bishops and 
priests, and a settled and positive code of principles and 
ceremonies, during His sojourn below, ajad on His departure, 
permit this organization to become extinct for three cen- 
turies ! 

" As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you. And when 
He had said this He breathed on them, and He said to them : 
Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whose sins you shall forgive, they 
are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain, they are 
retained." * St. Paul, following the example of Christ, or- 
dained Timothy and Titus, and sent them away to teach, and 
to ordain others, charging them as follows : " Stir up the 
grace of God, which is in thee, by the imposition of My 
hands." f "And the things which thou hast heard of Me 
by many witnesses, the same commend to faithful men, who 
shall be fit to teach others also." | 

"For this cause I left thee in Crete that thou shouldst 

ordain priests in every city, as I also appointed thee." § 

From this first quotation it is evident that Christ conse- 
crated His apostles, endowed them with the Holy Spirit, con- 
ferred upon them the power of binding and loosing from sin, 
and then sent them as His special representatives to teach and 
practise the doctrines which they had received from Him, and 
which He had received from the Father. Here, then, was an 
organized body of men, divinely appointed and ordained to 
sustain the Church which Christ had established, with its set- 
tled code of principles and sacraments. From the declara- 
tions of St. Paul and other apostles, it is clear that Christ in- 
structed them and their successors to perpetuate this ecclesi- 
astical organization, in order that His Church might be ever 
visible, immutable, and operative. Says St. Paul, " God hath 
reconciled us to Himself by Christ ; and hath given to us the 

* John XX. 21, 22, 25. f 2 Timothy i. 6. 

X 2 Timothy ii. 2. § Titus i. 5. 



THE WOELD AT THE BIETH OF CHEIST. 23 

ministry of reconciliation For Christ therefore we are 

ambassadors." * 

In view of the facts that Christ became incarnate for the 
express purpose of teaching mankind His holy truths, and 
of preserving and transmitting them to future generations, 
through a regularly organized Church and ministry, and that 
His love for this Church was so great that He willingly suf- 
fered and died for it, the inference is irresistible that the 
" Christian Church, its institutions, its magistrates, and its 
authority " has existed uninterruptedly since the days of the 
apostles. " Christ loved the Church, and delivered Himself 
up for it ; that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver 
of water in the word of life." f 

" Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and 
ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit." | 

On one occasion when Christ was addressing the multi- 
tude, He distinctly recognized the superior functions of His 
ecclesiastical magistrates. "And the disciples came, and said 
unto Him, why speakest Thou unto them in parables ? He 
answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you 
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them 
(the multitude) it is not given." § 

The fact that the first bishops and priests of the Church 
did not worship in temples, and exercise the authority and 
functions of the priesthood openly and publicly, will account 
for the hasty inference of M. Guizot, that there existed no 
ecclesiastical organization and no consecrated priesthood 
during the first three centuries of the Christian era. What 
was the condition of these early Christians ? Dwelling in 
the midst of idolatrous pagans, demoralized sects, and athe- 
ists who hated Christianity because it opposed a barrier to 
their passions and pleasures, and who persecuted and mur- 
dered all who professed or practised its beneficent doctrines, 
these bishops and priests of the first century were obliged to 

* 2 Corinthians v. 18-20. f Ephesians v. 25, 26. 

X John XV. 16. § Matthew siii. 10, 11. 



24 CHEISTIAITITY AND rrS CONFLICTS. 

preach, teach, and practise their religion, to consecrate their 
ministers, and to preserve the Holy Scriptures and the tradi- 
tions of the Church in dark catacombs, caves, and secluded 
forests. For the most part, they were obliged to meet by 
stealth, and at the imminent risk of their lives. Pagan spies 
were at every door, watching the outgoings and the in- 
comings of every suspected Christian, reporting every sus- 
picious word, thus furnishing abundant victims for the wild 
beasts of the Colosseum, or for Jewish and pagan crosses. 
Under such circumstances, was it to be expected that the 
ecclesiastical " magistrates " to whom M. Guizot alludes — 
the bishops and priests of the Church who had been succes- 
sively ordained as her ministers and guardians since the days 
of Christ — would expose themselves to certain martyrdom by 
public professions and practices of their religion ? M. Guizot 
will admit that Christ did found a Church, did designate by 
name its head officer, and did promise that it should exist 
forever. Was this Church founded simply in order that a 
" few of the first Christians might meet together to enjoy 
their common emotions ? " Did Christ found His Church 
upon a rock and present to St. Peter the keys, without any 
" settled form of doctrine, any settled rules of discipline, or 
any body of magistrates ? " If, in the time of Christ and 
the apostles, ecclesiastical magistrates were appointed and 
consecrated to carry on the Church organization, and to ex- 
ercise pastoral authority over the faithful, is it probable that 
these appointments and this organization would cease to 
exist after the ascension of Christ and the death of the 
apostles ? Is it probable that the divine Guardian would so 
soon abandon the sacred heritage which had been so merci- 
fully bequeathed to mankind ? It is quite true that neither 
Seneca, nor Tacitus, nor Pliny alludes to any church organ- 
ization, nor to bishops and priests ; but they were men of the 
world, politicians, lovers of comfort and honor, and whose 
pleasures were in the senate-house, the lyceum, the academic 
groves, and in the smiles of the noble and great, not in the 
Catacombs which harbored the persecuted Christian outlaws. 



THE WOELD AT THE BIETH OF CHEIST. 25 

The first Christians composed but a small portion of the 
population, were obscure, poor, despised, and persecuted. 
Any announcement of Christian faith, or any conversion to 
it, was punishable with death. The very fact that the Church 
has survived, retaining within her bosom the Scriptures and 
the sacred traditions and observances, notwithstanding the 
vast powers which were arrayed against her under Tiberius, 
Nero, Claudius, Caligula, etc., proves not only a continuous 
ecclesiastical organization, but the ever-sustaining presence 
of God. 

In organizing this Church, which " Christ loved and de- 
livered Himself up for^^ and in ordaining its authorized min- 
isters for the purpose of announcing and explaining the doc- 
trines and requirements which Pie had received from the 
Father, and which He had communicated to them, our 
Saviour intended to establish and perpetuate a " settled form 
of doctrine " — divine, immutable, and everlasting. He did 
not design that these sacred truths should be submitted to 
the people by the apostles and their successors, for discus- 
sion, for criticism, and for private interpretation, with liberty 
to alter and amend, or reject them, as ignorance, prejudice, or 
caprice might dictate. He did not submit His doctrines to 
the judgments or criticisms of the Scribes, Pharisees, Saddu- 
cees, and lawyers of Jerusalem, or to the learned and polished 
litterateurs of Rome. He never pretended to sanction what 
is termed in modern times " freedom of conscience " and 
"private interpretation," but He demanded unconditional 
faith and obedience in the teachings of Himself and His in- 
spired apostles. He announced a fixed code of religious 
principles and observances, directly opposed to the opinions 
and practices of the entire civilized world ; and He appointed 
and consecrated a special class of men as His agents, repre- 
sentatives, and " ambassadors," to teach, practice, and perpet- 
uate them. They were to teach, among other things, the 
necessity of faith in Himself and in all His words and works, 
hov/ever repugnant they might appear to human reason. 
He did not give to His priesthood any discretion to submit 
2 



26 CnEISTIANITT AND ITS COITFLIOTS. 

these precepts to the fallible judgments of their hearers, with 
permission to receive a part and reject a part ; but they were 
commanded simply to declare the law and the necessity of 
receiyinoj it without reservation or discussion. If the doc- 
triiies of Christianity had always been submitted to the 
capricious interpretations of the illiterate, the depraved, and 
the skeptical public, during the early and middle centuries, 
not a vestige of the religion of Christ would now have re- 
mained for us, but universal skepticism would have cursed 
the world. This is evident from the actual results of modern 
Protestantism, as we have elsewhere demonstrated. 

The mission and declarations of Christ on earth, the teach- 
ings and practices of the apostles, the violent persecutions 
and the frequent martyrdoms of Christians during the first 
centuries, afford conclusive evidence that the Church organi- 
zation, with its officers, its authority, its " settled form of 
doctrine," and its sacramental observances, has never ceased 
to exist and to bear fruits since its first foundation. Christ 
and His apostles were obliged to preach and practise Chris- 
tianity in mountains, wildernesses, on the sea-shore, and to 
be ever on the alert to aA^oid the persecutions and murderous 
attacks of their enemies. They were continually driven from 
place to place, insulted, stoned, whipped, and tormented, 
until, finally, the Saviour and several of the apostles v/ere 
actually crucified. During the reigns of the emperors of the 
line of Csesar, and onward through generations of malignant 
and sanguinary persecution, up to the time of Constantine, 
a similar public sentiment existed against the Christians, 
- Vr^hich rendered open and public declaration, profession, or 
practice of Christianity entirely impracticable. While Christ 
and the apostles lived, Christianity did not become suffi- 
ciently extended and powerful to excite any serious appre- 
hensions on the part of paganism ; but as the number of 
converts increased, and became a power of the empire, fear 
of Christian influence was superadded to existing hatred, 
and a corresponding increase of persecution and cruelty was 
the result. These facts fully explain why the Church was so 



THE WOELD AT THE BIETH OF CHEIST, 27 

little visible during the first three centuries of the Christian 
era, and why historians have made so few allusions to the 
organization and its officers and authority. 

What is the object of religion ? Let us answer in the 
words of M. Guizot : " It is to govern the human passions, 
the human will. All religion is a restraint, an authority, a 
government. It comes in the name of a divine law, to sub- 
due, to mortify human nature. It is then to human liberty 
that it directly opposes itself. It is human liberty Dmt re- 
sists it, and that it wishes to overcome. This is the grand 
object of religion, its mission, its hope. 

" But, while it is with human liberty that all religions have 
to contend, while they aspire to reform the v/ill of man, they 
have no means by which they can act upon hiui — they have 
no moral power over him, but through his own will, his 

liberty Before religions can really accomplish their 

task, it is necessary that they should be accepted by the 
free-will of man : it is necessary that man should submit, 
but it must be willingly and freely, and that he still pre- 
serves his liberty in the midst of this submission." * 

The first paragraph of this quotation is strictly true, 
while the last is true only to a certain extent. The object 
of religion is to subjugate and control the perverse desires 
and propensities of the human heart, and to enforce obe- 
dience to the divine commandments. The moral power which 
the Catholic Church has always exercised over man, has been 
the simple presentation of the settled and immutable truths 
of Christianity, like faith in Jesus Christ, and obedience to 
His commandments, under the penalty of everlasting punish- 
ment. To be efficient, these holy truths must not only be 
addressed to the intelligence of men, with a view to con- 
vincing their reason of their justice, but the practice of them 
must be inculcated by such means as are best calculated to 
overcome the obstinate and sinfid disobedience of believers. 
The Church always appeals to the reason of men, sets before 
thc-m the plain precepts v/hich the Father revealed to the 

* " IIistoi7 of Civilization," vol. i., p. 1S8. 



28 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Son, and avMcIi He revealed to the apostles and their succes- 
sors, and then demands obedience under the penalties an- 
nounced in Holy Writ. The reason of man may accept a 
truth theoretically, while his sinful nature rejects it prac- 
tically. If at times the Catholic Church has enforced strin- 
gent rules of discipline, they have ever been directed to 
insure obedience to conceded truths. The great principles of 
Christianity are presented to the free-will of man, to accept 
or reject, but not to alter or pervert. He has perfect liberty 
to receive and profit by them, or to reject them and abide 
the consequences ; but he has not liberty to misinterpret and 
change a jot or tittle of the Word of God. There must be 
some limit to human liberty and to self-will. For example, 
in a democracy, the people govern ; they elect rulers, create 
laws, and determine governmental policies. But the politi- 
cal organization limits this liberty and self-will. Thus, an 
enthusiast demands a division of property, a plurality of 
wives, etc., but common-sense and common-law step in and 
restrict his liberty, curb his free-will, and force him to obey 
the laws as commonly interpreted. The Church organization 
acts in the same manner. It offers to all the divine laws, 
and inculcates obedience to them ; but it places restraints on 
licentiousness of opinion, and palpable violations of the laws 
of God. 

As regards the labors of the first apostles, and the spirit 
which actuated them, all Christians are in unison. A very 
casual examination of the great works accomplished by these 
devoted men, will demonstrate the fact that they were not 
only a thoroughly organized " body of magistrates," but a 
very industrious and efiicient organization. Nor was there 
any uncertainty as to the " form of doctrine " they taught. 
The principles they announced were always explicit, compre- 
hensive, clear, and uniform ; and they Vv^ere delivered to the 
multitudes who heard them as articles of absolute and un- 
questioning faith and practice, not for discussion and private 
interpretation. 

The first apostles were more eloquent than other men. 



THE WOKLD AT THE BIETH OF CHEIST. 29 

and more potent in their influence only because tlieir hearts 
were more pervaded "by the spirit of their Master ; and they 
wrought out more sublimely that love with which their Lord 
had imbued them. If their successors, though superior in 
mental strength and human learning, did not all possess 
that deep faith and that deep love which the first followers of 
Jesus displayed, still they were illumined in a degree which 
raised them vastly above any teachers of human wisdom 
that the world had ever seen. Thus enlightened, they em- 
ployed the truths impressed upon them by their Divine Mas- 
ter in bringing men from darkness to light; and, however 
we may contemplate them as men living in a dark age of the 
world's history, and estimate their spiritual character and 
power, and compare them with the pagan philosophers and 
Jewish priests, these Fathers of the early days of the Church 
gave out a wondrous light. 

They felt that Christianity was a power that must revo- 
lutionize the world. They knew that there was saving 
health in the life of the Lord. They were heroic in their 
lives, and in their self sacrifice and devotion to His service. 
They were not afraid that the episcopal garments they wore 
would be stained by their treading in desolate places ; and 
they condescended to speak to the oppressed man or woman 
as to a brother or a sister. They were not afraid to stand 
up and advocate the cause of the oppressed wherever 
they were found. Tliey preached everywhere that man icas 
onan. 

Again : They were disinterested. — If they differed in 
worldly things among themselves; if they were men — and 
whenever men try to settle matters of opinion by employing 
their intellectual powers, they are liable to fall into errors ; 
if they found it impossible to settle supernatural problems by 
their own natural mental powers — still the early Fathers of the 
Church held fast to the revealed doctrines they had received ; 
and in them, and in their adherence to them, they found the 
elements that were needed for the regeneration of human 
society, though society was then debased beyond any thing 



30 crmisTiANiTY and its conflicts. 

that we can now realize. They were, in all respects, superior 
to the best men of the heathen world. 

Firsts on the ground of moral purity. — ~Eo man, unless 
he has waded through oceans of the old Roman literature, 
can form any, even an imperfect idea or conception of the 
world as it then v/as, or how corrupt was the bes.t civilized 
society of that day. We have heard men refer to Paris as 
the representative of impurity among modern cities. But 
Paris in its worst days— Paris in the latter days of the reign 
of Louis XY.— if Paris had been extended till it should take 
in a population of millions, would afford but an imperfect 
illustration of what Rome was in the days of its decline, and 
through all the days and years in v/hich paganism ruled 
there. 

And it was in the midst of all this profligacy and wicked- 
ness that the advocates of Christianity through three hun- 
dred years of heathen persecution labored for the regenera- 
tion of human society. It may not be possible for us to 
realize how much they did accomplish. 

They organized the family ; and the primitive divine 
idea of a pure household rose up, a green paradise-island out 
of the almost universal decay. They raised up marriage^ 
as a divine institution ; they raised looman from her ancient 
slavery and thrall, and established the everlasting sanctuary 
of the HOME. They rescued childhood from the hell of 
ancient-tyranny ; they consecrated virginity and hallov/ed it ; 
and opened through purified generation the way for the 
more perfect humanity of the coming time. 

They were right in another thing also. They broke down 
the barriers of caste ; and thus they prepared the way for 
the idea of human brotherhood to descend upon men to be 
gradually understood and received. And while they were 
thus teaching by precept and example the living truths of 
the Christian Church, what was Rome, the metropolis of 
heathenism ? An enormous, Titanic, demonized monster of 
oppression. A great confederacy of pagan states, whichhad 
nowhere any moral law. And oh, how did the proud im- 



THE WOELD AT THE BIKTH OF CHEIST. 31 

perial city of the Caesars tyrannize in brutal barbarism over 
fallen and suffering men ! She was the purchaser and the 
seller, the trader in the bodies and souls of ail classes of her 
subjects ; permitting the noblest of her people to be mur- 
dered in the amphitheatres by wild beasts, merely to gratify 
the brutal passions of the populace. This, this was Rome ! 

The Fathers of the earlier days of Christianity, in labor- 
ing for the restoration of human brotherhood, felt, more 
deeply perhaps than we of this time, the nineteenth century, 
can feel, that meii, everywhere, were brothers. And they 
felt more intensely than Christians of later times appear to 
feel, that when men devoted themselves to the service of 
the Lord Jesus, they stood in spirit-freedom before Him as 
their Divine Master. Men have since wondered how the 
great masses of benighted men could possibly be reached by 
the preaching of a few plain men who had all the powers of 
Satan and the world against them. The reason was this : 
brotherhood was preached and practised ; and there was a 
moral power in the preaching and in the example of such 
men. 

Again, they were successful, because moral and Christian 
purity of life was preached and practised. And men be- 
lieved in the divine mission of the heralds of the Christian 
faith, because the Divine Man they represented was symbol- 
ized in those messengers who were seen to be inspired by 
His Spirit. 

Again, they were successful, because in the visions of the 
future they unfolded the coming spiritual commonwealth, 
where those who had been baptized most fully in the fiery 
sea of suffering, who had dared most and suffered most, would 
be restored to immortal youth and angelic perfection in the 
home that He who had gone before had promised-,to prepare 
for them. 



CHAPTER II. 

DOCTKINES TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. 



Qoi>~VndeT the Old and Mw Dispensations. 

At the Mrth of Christ, as we have endeavored to show, 
but few of the subjects of Augustus entertained any just ideas 
of God, or of the immortality of the soul. Superior spiritual 
existences were recognized and worshij^ped, but they were 
mere properties of matter— the animating and governing 
spirit of the universe— that principle which presides over the 
three kingdoms of nature, and perpetuates and sustains the 
natural order and harmony of all created things. A majority 
had no conception of one Infinite and Omnipotent God to 
whom all are accountable, or of a future state of existence 
where souls exist forever, in happiness or unhappiness, "ac- 
cordmg to the deeds done in the body." Their general god 
was Nature, and they deified men, animals, imaginary per- 
sons, and various mundane objects. This is a denial of a 
personal God, and, as Balmes has well observed, "a mate- 
rialism ending in atheism, wild idealism and fantastic spirit- 
ualism resulting in pantheism." 

Equally erroneous ideas were generally entertained re- 
spectmg the immortality of the soul. A few adopted the 
opinion of Pythagoras, that souls are migratory, occupyino- 
successively various animated bodies, and losing their iden- 



GOD. 33 

tity at each migration. But the vast majority of the people 
of Christ's day believed in the annihilation of both soul and 
body at death. The legitimate results of these pantheistic 
views were the universal prevalence of the three concupis- 
cences which, according to the inspired apostle, govern the 
world, viz., that of the flesh, of the eyes, and the pride of 
life. As there was nothiag to hope for beyond the grave, 
the sole object of life was the pursuit of worldly pleasure. If 
their codes contained a few precepts of morality, virtue, and 
justice, they were incorporated for the protection of person 
and property against wanton and lawless violence, and not 
with reference to any abstract sentiments of goodness and 
right. 

God became incarnate on earth to change these atheisti- 
cal and pantheistical opinions, and the moral and social con- 
dition of the societies founded on them. He came to declare 
Himself to them, so far as was consistent with their limited 
faculties ; to solicit their faith, to elevate them from idolatry 
and Jewish superstition to Christianity, and to instruct them 
by means of a new dispensation respecting God, the human 
soul, and their duties to God and man. We shall endeavor 
to present to the reader the fundamental principles which 
Christ and His inspired apostles gave to mankind as a divine 
heritage, capable of rescuing them and their posterity from 
the spiritual darkness of paganism and materialism, and of be- 
stowing upon them the beneficent lights of the Christian re- 
ligion. In this chapter we shall briefly allude to some of the 
attributes of God, and to the objects of the new disj^ensation. 

Foremost among the doctrines taught by the Saviour was 
the necessity of faith in one Supreme and Personal God. A 
true knowledge of the Creator was absolutely essential to 
the welfare of mankind. It was necessary that He should be 
recognized, not only as a Being of infinite knowledge and 
power, but of infinite love and justice; that He should be ac- 
knowledged as the Sovereign Ruler, as well as the Creator 
of the universe: and the highest duty of men is to have 
faith and to obey. For many centuries preceding the Chris- 
2* 



34 CHEISTIANITT ANB ITS CONFLICTS. 

tian era, the human mind had been so thoroughly mate- 
rialized and absorbed in mundane affairs, that the ideas of a 
spirit-world and an eternal God y/ere practically ignored. 
Men adopted the untenable and absurd doctrines of the domi- 
nant schools of philosophy, or the equally false ideas of the 
prevalent Judaism, and with these filse data entered upon 
the grand stage of life. It was to drag the world from the 
moral and social degradation into which it had fallen, through 
the influence of these baneful centres and nurseries of public 
sentiment, that the Almighty deemed it necessary to deliver 
a new law, through the medium of the second Person of the 
Holy Trinity. The Infinite Intelligence mercifully deigned 
to manifest Himself, and to communicate His will to man- 
kind through a man with a human nature like themselves. 
That no misunderstanclmg should occur respecting His divine 
laws and instructions, He became incarnate, and declared His 
will in person and with organs like our own, thus adapting 
Himself to the limited faculties of mortals. 

This merciful condescension of the Supreme Beino- in 
manifesting His will to mankind through a human body, 
v/ith organs and faculties like our ov/n — with sentiments, 
emotions, passions, affections, and with keen susceptibilities 
to painful and pleasurable sensations — has been seized upon 
by skeptics as an argument against the divinity of Jesus. 
Because our Saviour was born in the poor town of N'azareth, 
of humble parentage, and passed thirty years of His life as a 
poor laboring carpenter, the priesthood of His own day de- 
nied His divinity, and denounced Him as an impostor. From 
first to last the Jewish priests were His enemies ; and to Cai- 
phas belongs the dreadful sin of having instigated the pro- 
ceedings and persecutions which terminated in the crucifix- 
ion. It is quite evident that the Roman procurator, Pontius 
Pilate, did not desire to put Jesus to death, but would gladly 
have spared Him had it not been for the violent clamor of 
the Jews, headed by their high-priest and his friends in au- 
thority. 

The rationalists of the world, whether Pharisee, Saclducee, 



GOD. 



35 



MystiCj or Pagan, of His own epoch, or Atheist, Deist, Ration- 
alist, or other Skeptic of more modern times, have always 
regarded Jesus as a mere man, without any right whatever 
to the appellation of, or the honor pertaining to God, From 
the simple fact that the Infinite chose to speak to His rebel- 
lious creatures through the medium of a body like their own 
—although His words were confirmed by a series of stupen- 
dous miracles — ^many men, in all ages, have doubted, cavilled, 
and finally repudiated every thing pertaining to Jesus which 
did not coincide with their rationalistic notions. 

Finite man can form no just conception of the Infinite. 
Like a leaf of the tree, a blade of grass, or a grain of sand 
on the sea-shore, man is but an incident in the grand design 
of the universe. The creation of a world, having relations 
with innumerable other worlds of various magnitudes and 
endowments, all operating in perfect harmony, containing 
living beings possessed of almost innumerable grades of in- 
telligence and physical conformation, and filled with every 
conceivable variety of objects pertaining to the animal, vege- 
table, and mineral kingdoms, and all subjected to fixed and 
harmonious laws of decomposition and reproduction, was 
the result of a simple fiat of the Infinite will. To the Crea- 
tor these works of His hands are as nothing when contrasted 
with His omnipotent power. Had He so willed. He could 
just as easily have created on our earth a race of beings 
vastly superior to those who now inhabit it, both mentally 
and physically. Had He so willed. He could have so organ- 
ized the special senses of man that the inhabitants of Europe 
could behold at will those of America or China ; or conver- 
sations could be carried on from continent to continent, and 
the fragrant spices of Araby or the flow^ery perfumes of the 
tropics could be scented by the phlegmatic denizens of the 
polar regions. With the Almighty, such a creation would 
have been as simple as that of the lily of the field, or the 
grain of sand on the sea-shore, and to His Infinite comprehen- 
sion all would be equally insignificant. 

The only ideas which man can form of God are such as 



36 CIIEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

pertain to His wonderful works on earth, to the instrtictions 
communicated by His holy prophets, and by his blessed Son 
our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Thus we behold and admire a beautiful landscape, and 
our souls are filled with pleasure and gratitude to the Crea- 
tor and Giver of so much beauty. We gaze at the thunder- 
ing and foaming cataract, as its waters madly rush over 
giant rocks and precipices in search of rest in the bosom of 
the mother of waters, the ocean ; and we involuntarily 
revert with devotion to the Author of so sublime a specta- 
cle, We listen with ecstasy to the beautiful conceptions of 
the poet, or to the ravishing tones of the musician, or to the 
thrilling words of the orator, or we feast our eyes on works 
of ancient and modern art, and devoutly thank God for His 
gifts of heaven-born genius to men— the results of which 
not only elevate and refine, but afford some faint ideas of 
the Infinite Fountain of love, wisdom, truth, and good- 
ness. We behold with awe the wonders of the planetary 
system, the orderly movements of countless worlds, with 
their myriads of intelligent creatures, all upheld and regu- 
lated in the immensity of space by the finger of the Al- 
mighty; and we bow in silence and dread before the Majesty 
of Heaven, and realize how infinitely above the creature is 
the Creator. 

In these glorious manifestations of creative power, man 
can form some slight conceptions of a few of the attributes 
of the Deity; and from these ideas and a due appreciation 
of them,^ may ofier up acceptable worship and adoration; 
but his limited faculties cannot attain to a knowledge of the 
Infinite and all-pervading Fountain of power, knowledo-e, 
and wisdom. 

When the ancient descendants of Abraham worshipped 
the living God, their conceptions of Him were confined to 
the visible v/^onders of creation, to the inspired words of His 
I)rophets, and to the miracles which were wrought in their 
behalf They worshipped a God who had created a world 
out of chaos, which w^as to remain until the last day as the 



GOD. ^ 37 

clwelliiig-place of all living creatures, and tlie receptacle of 
all created objects — who organized all things pertaining to 
the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms in perfect har- 
mony, for generation, reproduction, groAvth, decomposition — 
and who, in creating man after His own image, with reason, 
sentiment, affection, love, and with cmious organs like the 
eye, the ear, the nose, etc., through which the soul manifests 
itself, displayed to man some idea of His omnipotence. In 
these visible marvels of the universe they recognized the 
design and the power of the Supreme Architect ; and instead 
of worshipping these manifestations of power as the pagans 
had done, they bowed down before their Creator in faith 
and adoration. 

They worshipped a God who through their prophets had 
given them precepts and laws abounding in wisdom, love, 
justice, and divine truth. They worshipped a God who had 
miraculously protected and prospered them in the midst of 
universal famine and pestilence, and who had finally brought 
them miraculously out of the land of Egypt and of bondage, 
and established them triumphantly in the land of Canaan. 
They worshipped God through His attributes of infinite 
knowledge, power, love, truth, justice, mercy, and goodness. 
These visible works and these attributes of the Almighty 
came within the scope of their comprehension, and they 
adored the Author of these wonderful gifts as their God. 

God vouchsafed to manifest His divine will to them 
through His holy prophets. From them were derived 
the ten commandments, the laws, and the tables of stone. 
From them was derived a knowledge of the duties of 
man toward his God and his fellow-men. Through them 
the world received the first intimations of the birth, the mis- 
sion, the passion, and the death of our Redeemer. By them 
a few of the mysteries of godliness w^ere made known, so that 
men were able to approach somewhat nearer to the majes- 
ty of the Omnipotent. But all of these conceptions of God 
were from a human stand-point, having reference to human 
wants, human reason, human appreciation, and consequently 



38 CHEISTIANriY AND ITS CONFLIC'iS. 

limited, vague, and imperfect. But the ancient Hebrew 
could appreciate tlie divine attributes of power, love, wisdom, 
mercy, truth, and goodness, and worship the Author and 
Fountain of these blessings. When he saw the waters of the 
Red Sea separated by an invisible hand to afford a safe pas- 
sage for the persecuted children of Israel, while Pharaoh with 
his pursuing hosts of Egyptians were swallowed up in their 
angry and retributive waves, he appreciated the miracle and 
adored its Author. In contemplating the creation of the 
world from chaos and utter darkness, when the Divine Spirit 
moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, "Let there 
be light and there was light;" when the light was separated 
from the darkness, and day and night were created ; when 
the sun, moon, and stars were planted in the firmament of 
heaven to afford light and heat to the earth ; when the waters 
were fixed in their everlasting depths, and the dry lands upon 
their immovable foundations; when all organized nature 
sprang forth in perfect order and harmony, beautifying, vivi- 
fying, and gladdening the universe, the men of the old dis- 
pensation beheld with awe and wonder these marvellous 
works, and worshipped the omnipotent Being who had brought 
them forth. And when they reflected that this vast world, 
with its revolving planetary system, and its countless array 
of complex organizations, both animate and inanimate, were 
held in space by the finger of the Almighty, to fulfil their 
destined functions in accordance with His original design, 
they were overv/helmed with admiration, and in perfect faith 
adored and praised the Supreme Architect. 

In these stupendous manifestations of power, man beheld 
a single attribute of the Deity, and appreciated his own utter 
insignificance when contrasted with the omnipotence of 
Goci. 

The love, the goodness, and the mercy of God declare 
themselves naturally, spontaneously, and continually in the 
wonderful works of creation. The changing seasons, the 
light and warmth of the sun, rain and snow, heat and cold, 
by germinating and developing the fruitful products of the 



GOD. 



B9 



earth, furnish men and animals with sustenance, maintain 
life and health, and appeal daily and hourly to the infinite 
love and goodness of God. The beautiful landscape, the 
boundless ocean, the rushing cataract, the rugged and to\yer- 
ing mountain pointing in mute grandeur, from age to age, 
toward the infinite source of its creation, are all delightful in 
the eyes of men, and proclaim the goodness and benevolence 
of God toward His creatures. 

In worshipping God, therefore, the ancient Hebrew adored 
His divine attributes of power, love, goodness, benevolence, 
and mercy, as manifested in the works of creation, and in the 
blessings flowing from them to mankind. He could behold 
the stupendous design of the universe, with all its vast ma- 
chinery working in perfect order and harmony, and evoking 
at each moment the wonderful phenomena which pertain to 
the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. He could re- 
gard at each moment of his existence some marvellous mani- 
festation of the omnipotence of Jehovah, and humble himself 
to the earth in wonder and admiration. He could join with 
his countrymen, David and Job, in praising and adoring 
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when they declare : 
'' God is our Lord, and of great power; His imder standing is 

infinite:' " Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised ; 

and His greatness is unsearchable:' * " Touching the Al- 
mighty, we cannot find Him out : He is excellent in power, 

and in judgment, and in plenty of justice With God is 

terrible majesty." f 

These declarations of the ancient prophets demonstrate 
the fact that the Almighty was regarded by them as "-infinite 
in His understanding''' "unsearchable in His greatness^' 
" terrible in majesty," and " past finding ouV In their acts 
of Avorship and adoration, therefore, they addressed them- 
selves to the visible attributes of God, the only ideas of 
Him which they could comprehend and appreciate. Thus 
David, in rendering praises and adoration to his Maker, gives 
utterance to the following declarations : " The heavens de- 
* Fsalm cxlv. t '^^^ xxxvii, 22, 23. 



40 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Clare the glory of God ; and the firmament showeth His handy 
work. Day mito day uttereth speech, and night unto night 
showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where 
their voice is not heard. The law of the Lord is perfect, con- 
verting the soul : the testimony of the Lord is sure, making 
wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing 
the heart : the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlighten- 
ing the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for- 
ever : the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous alto- 
gether I will speak of the glorious honor of Thy ma- 
jesty, and of Thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of 
the might of Thy terrible acts, and I will declare Thy great- 
ness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great 

goodness, and shall sing of Thy righteousness All Thy 

works shall praise Thee, Lord, and Thy saints shall bless 
Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and 
talk of Thy power."* 

David then calls upon all the angels, all His hosts, the 
sun, moon, and stars, the heaven of heavens, and the v/a- 
ters that be above the heavens, upon fire, hail, and stormy 
winds, the mountains, and all hills, trees, beasts, fish, fowls, 
upon kings, princes, judges, and all peoples, to praise and 
adore the name of the Lord ; " for," says the Psalmist, " He 
commanded and they were created." 

Such were the conceptions of the ancient prophets and 
of the children of Israel, respecting the infinite and incom- 
prehensible God. On every side they witnessed and ex- 
perienced His powxr and goodness, and knew that they 
were blessed emanations from His inexhaustible fountain. 
Conception, birth, life, instinct, reason, sentiment, afiection, 
death, the marvellous w^onders of creation, the stupendous 
miracles which v/ere wrought in their behalf, the prophecies, 
the divine commandments and laws, were all impenetrable 
mysteries'to them; but they knew from Avhence they came 
and glorified their divine Giver. Occasionally the Almighty 

* Psalins cxly. to cxlviii. 



GOD. 41 

deigned to manifest His divine will to His chosen people in 
a direct and and more palpable manner. Thns when God, 
in the midst of dark clouds, thundered His commandments 
and laws from Mount Sinai to the people of Israel, " they 
trembled, stood afar off, and said unto Moses, Speak thou 
with us, and v/e will hear ; but let not God speak with us, 
lest we die."* Again, when Moses and the seventy elders 
of Israel went up into Mount Sinai to receive from the Lord 
the " tables of stone, and a law, and a commandment, the 

glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai and the 

sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the 
top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel." f 
Again, " And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tab- 
ernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of 
the tabernacle, and the JLord talked with Moses. And the 
Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to 
his friend." \ In this instance God assumed tlie form of a 
^^ cloudy pUlar^'' and thus adapted Himself to the visual or- 
gans and to the comprehension of Moses. 

When the Israelites were about to depart from the wil- 
derness of Sinai, Moses desired the Lord to show him His 
glory, and manifest Himself to him. "And God said unto 
Moses, '^l-^ presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee 

rest " And when Moses said to the Lord, " I beseech 

Thee show me Thy glory," the Lord said, " I will make all 
My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name 
of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I 
will be gracious, and Avill show mercy on whom I will show 
mercy ; hut thou canst not see My face y for there shall no 
man see Me and live,'''' § 

From these extracts it is evident that Jehovah manifested 
Himself to Moses and his people, just so far as their human 
faculties were capable of appreciating Him and no further. 
These manifestations were sufficiently palpable and suffi- 
ciently wonderful to establish their perfect faith and confi- 

* Exod. XX. 19. \ Exod. xxiv. 16, IT. 

\ Exod. xxiii. 9-11. § Exod. xxxiii. 14, 19, 20. 



42 CHEISTIANITY Alfl) ITS CONFLICTS. 

dence in the Almighty; and they regarded Him with adora- 
tion for His mercy and goodness, with awe and wonder for 
His power and majesty, with hope and confidence for His 
knowledge, wisdom, truth, and forbearance, and with grati- 
tude and filial affection for His special interposition in their 
favor. In the thunders of Sinai they heard His voice ; in 
the " cloudy pillar " by day, and the " fiery pillar " by night 
they recognized His presence ; in the miracles v»^hich were 
wrought through their prophets, they perceived His potent 
influence ; in the laws and commandments written upon the 
tahles of stone they read His divine instructions. These 
were all tangible facts, which appealed directly to their in- 
telligence and afibrded them positive proofs of the direct 
interposition of an overruling Providence in their afiairs. 
When a loud and mighty voice thundered from the dark 
clouds and the fires of Mount Sinai the commandments and 
the laws, they knew that God spoke, and that these com- 
mands were holy, and must be obeyed. And when the 
" cloudy pillar " went before them by day, and the " fiery 
pillar " by night, their human reason told them that the pres- 
ence of God was in those pillars, to lead and direct them in 
their journeyings through the wilderness to the promised land. 
And when the laws of nature were suspended, and the wa- 
ters of the Red Sea and of the Jordan were separated so that 
the Israelites could pass over on dry land, they knew that the 
hand of God held these waters from their natural courses in 
order that they might escape from their pursuing enemies. 
These and other direct interpositions of the Almighty in 
their behalf, inspired them with perfect faith, and with some 
faint ideas of His infinitude. 

As ages rolled on, and the earth became more populous, 
r>3w wants, new desires, and new vices obtained; so that 
the inventive faculties of men were brought into requisition 
to supply these new demands. Every thing in science, art, 
and literature, calculated to conduce to comfort, luxury, or 
pleasure, or to gratify the senses, was gradually brought to 
that, high state of cultivation which gave to the era of tlie 



GOD. 43 

Caesars the appellation of "golden age." But the pliiloso- 
phies of Plato, Aristotle, and Epicurus, and the dreadful 
superstitions of paganism, presided over and gave direction 
to this material culture. As the serpent in the midst of the 
flowers and the golden fruits of Eden lured our first parents 
to sin and moral and ph^^sical desolation, so did the dragon 
of paganism lure the classical people of the " golden era " 
to a condition of abject moral degradation. The true God 
was almost entirely unknown. There were no just concep- 
tions of the Infinite Creator of the universe; but nearly 
every man selected and worshipped a material god as fancy 
or caprice dictated. The convivial man vf orshipped Bacchus ; 
the licentious man adored Yenus; the cruel man chose Mars, 
the jovial man Momus; the Jew addressed his devotions to 
a sectarian God, and so on, according to natural tastes and 
inclinations. Such were the penates of the Roman citizen, 
and the religion of the Jew of the empire. 

In the midst of this moral desolation, v/lien nearly all the 
world had forsaken the living God for the superstitious and 
the degrading rites of paganism and idolatry, the Almighty 
deigned to confer an inestimable boon upon mankind. In 
His infinite mercy and condescension. He vouchsafed to 
speak directly to man through His blessed Son our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Having sent His precious ofispring in hu- 
man form and with human endowments. He entered into 
Him, abode in Him, and spoke through Him to man, face 
to face, and declared to him the holy truths of the nevf dis- 
pensation, and his duties toward his God and his fellow- 
men. Instead of manifesting Himself in the midst of the 
fires of Sinai, or in the "pillar of cloud by day" and the 
"pillar of fire by night," as He had done of old, He manifest- 
ed His presence in the God-Man He had begotten, and thus 
uttered His holy doctrines and His divine will to a perish- 
ing and sinful world. The words of truth and godliness 
issued from the lips of Jesus ; but the Almighty God the 
Father, from within the holy tabernacle which He had be- 
gotten, sent them forth. 



44 CHEISTTANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

"No man can see the face of the Father Almighty and 
live. No finite being can comprehend the Infinite. The 
only ideas which can be formed of the Almighty, are those 
derived from His attributes, from His miraculous communi- 
cations, from His inspired prophets, from the works of crea- 
tion, and from the teachings of our blessed Saviour. In 
presenting, therefore, to mankind His only-begotten Son as 
their Redeemer and Saviour, and through Him in communi- 
cating to them His heavenly decrees and His divine will, 
our heavenly Father demonstrated His boundless love and 
mercy to His erring creatures. With a perfect appreciation 
of the limited capacities of men, He adapted His presence to 
their understandings, and through the medium of a being 
similar to themselves He addressed them, instructed them, 
confirmed their faith, and enabled them to prepare for time 
and eternity.* 

How, then, can we worship our heavenly Father better 
than to address our thoughts, our affections, and our prayers 
to that blessed Son whom He has given to men as their di- 
vine Instructor and Redeemer, and through whom He com- 
municates His holy will, and manifests His glorious pres- 
ence? How can we better comprehend the mysteries of 
Godliness than to receive them from that divine Being whom 
the Father has sent us, and through whom He has vouch- 
safed to speak of heavenly things, and to make known as 
much of Himself as is consistent with human faculties and 
human reason ? There is but one God in essence and spir- 
it — the infinite and incomprehensible fountain of knowl- 
edge, love, and goodness ; but there are three Persons, 
or subdivisions, or manifestations of this one God pre- 
sented to the children of earth, in order that they may 
recognize and appreciate, according to their capacities, 
His divine majesty and .will. When Peter was asked 
by the Sadducees "by what power or by what name "he 
had healed the lame man, Peter replied : "By the name of 
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified. . . . Neither is 

* See Hebrews i. 1-13. 



GOD. 



45 



there salvation in any other ; for there is no other name 
under heaven given among men, -whereby we must be 
saved."* If, therefore, we would worship God with the 
highest possible degree of intelligence and appreciation, we 
must approach Him through that portion, or person, of His 
Godhead which He has especially designed and presented to 
mankind, because " in Him dwelt all the fulness of the God- 
head bodily." All of the laws, commandments, statutes, doc- 
trines, duties, mysteries, and obligations, which the Father 
has communicated to men through His dearly-beloved Son, 
are positive and unequivocal ; and it is the imperative duty 
of the creature to bow down in humble adoration and obey. 
In rendering worship and adoration to the Infinite Father, 
the conceptions of mortals must necessarily be vague, indefi- 
nite, and sometimes absurd ; but when they worship God 
through His Son, their conceptions of Him are rational and 
definite, although limited, and their duties as Christians are 
clearly defined. 

The ways of God are not our ways ; because His " under- 
standing is infinite," His "greatness unsearchable," His 
" majesty terrible," and Himself ''past finding out ;" but in 
the person of His Son Jesus Christ, He has adapted Himself 
to our ways and our understandings, and thus enabled us to 
approach Him directly and intelligently. From this point 
of view, is it not evident that, in worshipping Chi-ist, we ne- 
cessarily worship the Father Almighty, whose Holy Spirit 
animates Him, directs Him, and speaks through Him ? In 
worshipping Christ, do we not actually worship the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost — that peculiar manifestation of the one 
God which was especially designed for the instruction and 
salvation of men ? When we address our prayers to Christ, 
we appeal directly to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who 
are all present in the body of our Saviour as the one and 
true Lord God Almighty. Jehovah was present in the in- 
carnate form of Jesus, as He v/as present in the " cloudy pil- 
lar by day " and the " fiery pillar by night," when He led 
•* Acts iv. 10-12. 



4:6 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

the children of Israel in their joiirneyings; and He spoke from 
the lips of Jesus, as He spoke from the fires of Sinai, that 
men might believe, obey, and be saved. 

It is manifest, therefore, that Jesns Christ should be the 
special and chief object of human worship. The Infinite 
Creator, who does not dwell in temples made with hands, 
"whose throne is heaven, and whose footstool is earth," 
cannot be seen or understood by mortals, because " no man 
can see His face and live," and He is " past finding out ; " 
but He has presented Himself to His finite creatures in a 
manner which they can comprehend, with commandments 
and ordinances which they can appreciate, and in the palpa- 
ble and tangible form of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
To Him, then, should we cling as our Redeemer, our Saviour, 
our God. To Him should we continually address our jDrayers 
for mercy, pardon, protection, and guidance. To Him should 
we look for our ideas and conceptions of God ; and all of His 
words, teachings, and commandments should be treasured up 
and obeyed as the true and actual utterances of Jehovah. If 
v/e incline to be skeptical, and presumptuously attempt to pry 
into the impenetrable mysteries of the Infinite, let us reflect 
that we are weak creatures of an Omnipotent Creator, and 
that, in deigning to become incarnate on earth for our in- 
struction, our guidance, and our salvation. He has displayed 
His boundless mercy and goodness. " Canst thou by search- 
ing find out God ? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto 
perfection ? It is as high as heaven ; what canst thou do ? 
deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure 
thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." "^ 
Instead of occasional manifestations of His presence, as in old- 
en times, let us ever remember with profound gratitude, that 
He came among us in a body like our own, taught us His di- 
vine doctrines, sympathized with us, established His Church 
upon an immutable and everlasting foundation, suffered and 
died for us, and finally left this representative of His infinitude 
as an object of adoration and worship, and as "the only name 
* Job xi. '7-9. 



GOD. 47 

Tinder beaveu given among men wliereby vv^e must "be saved" 
— our Mediator, our Kedeemer, our Saviour, our God, Jesus 
Christ. Let us never forget that Christ alone stands between 
the infiuite Fountain of light and love and men, and that the 
Divine rays pervade Him and continually pass off from Him 
in the form of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the world. Let 
us never forget the divine declaration that, through the 
name of Jesus alone, can salvation be attained. While we 
should daily humble ourselves in devotion, awe, and prayer, 
before the infinite and incomprehensible God, " Our Father 
Avho art in heaven," whose "majesty is terrible," v/hose 
" understanding is infinite," whose " greatness is unsearch- 
able," and whose ways are " past finding out," let us pray 
always to that blessed Son v.-hom He has sent to us, and 
whose commandments and doctrines must be our perpetual 
rule of faith and practice. As God spoke through the mouths 
of Moses and the prophets to the children of Israel, giving 
them laws and commandments for their rule of faith and 
guidance, so did God speak through Christ to the men of 
the new dispensation, declaring to them the lav/s and com- 
mandments for their rule of faith and practice. Whatever, 
therefore, Christ has declared in the New Testament, or to 
the apostles and their successors, must be received with ab- 
solute and unquestioning faith as the word of God, however 
repugnant such declarations may be to our preconceived no- 
tions or to our human reason. He has written down and 
transmitted to us His commandments, statutes, and ordi- 
nances; He has declared to us all of those things which He 
has received from the Father in heaven ; He came down to 
us as our instructor, our exemplar, our mediator, our redeem- 
er, and our God — through whom, and by whose name alone 
men must be saved. " All things are delivered unto Me of 
My Father; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; 
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and liQ 
to Vv^hom. soever the Son will reveal Sim.'''' * 

That the Divine Spirit which actuated our Saviour, and 

* Matt. xi. 2'7. 



48 



CIIEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 



which tauglit and spoko through Him, was the veritable 
Spiritof Jehovah— the Great I Am— the Infinite and Eternal 
Creator of heaven and earth, is quite evident from the entire 
tenor of the Scriptures. This embodiment and impersonation 
of the Almighty in Christ, was undoubtedly the best mode 
which could be devised by the Infinite Intelhgence to com- 
municate with mortals. This assumption of flesh by the 
Great Spirit was- an act of transcendent mercy and conde- 
scension, as it enabled men to talk face to face with this per- 
sonification of God on earth. This Person of the Godhead 
was adapted to the understandings of men, and they were 
thus allowed to receive the divine commandments directly 
through that dearly beloved Son whom He had sent espe- 
cially to them, whose sacred body He inhabited, and through 
whose lips He uttered His will to men. The following pas- 
sages of the New Testament corroborate this view of the 
subject : "Philip saith unto Him (Jesus), Lord, show us the 
Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him. Have I 
been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known 
Me, Philip ? he that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father; and 
how sayest thou then. Show us the Father? Believest thou 
not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me ? the words 
that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself: but the 
Father, that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe 
Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me." * Again : 
" For the Father loveth you, because ye have loved Me^ and 
have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from 
the Father, and am come into the world." Again, " I leave the 
world, and go to the Father." f Again, " I have glorified Thee 
on earth ; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to 
do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own 
Self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world 
was." I Again : " Jesus cried, and said. He that believeth on 
Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me. And 
he that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me."§ Again: "In 

* John xiv. 9-11. I jol,n ^^j^ g^, 28. 

t John xvii. 4, 5. § joUn xii. 44. 



GOD. 49 

the beginning was the Word (Christ), and the Word (Christ) 
was with God, and the Word (Christ) was God. The same 
(Christ) was in the beginning with God. All things were 
made by Him ; and without Him was not any thing made 

that was made He was in the world, and the world 

was made by Him, and the world knew Him not And 

the Word (Christ) was made flesh, and dwelt among us." " I 
and my Father are one." * 

From these extracts it is evident that Christ is the actual 
Father Almighty, and that He has presented us with this 
second personification of Himself in order that we might 
clearly understand those laws, duties, and obligations, which 
are necessary for our temporal and eternal welfare, and that 
we might worship Him in an appreciable and tangible form. 

In view of the omnipotence of God, and of His identity 
with our Redeemer, is it not the first duty of man to believe 
with unquestioning and absolute faith in all of the teachings 
and acts of Christ when on earth ? His entire career was 
characterized by miraculous deeds for the purpose of convert- 
ing the world from paganism to Christianity, and of confirm- 
ing the faith of the disciples. He demanded then as He 
demands now, as a condition to salvation, simple and implicit 
faith in Him and His works, however opposed they may be 
to the philosophies or the logic of man. Whenever, there- 
fore, we incline to be skeptical, or to pry into the mysteries 
which God has presented to us through his Son, let us call 
to mind the fact that God's ways are not our ways, that 
the finite creature cannot comprehend the Infinite Creator, 
and that it is wisdom for man to believe and obey. 

Among the first objects to be accomplished by our Saviour 
in converting the people of the Roman empire to the Chris- 
tian religion, was the overthrow of their pantheistic ideas, 
and the substitution of a knowledge of the true God, and of 
the immortality of the soul. His declarations upon these 
subjects were clear and explicit, and iu direct antagonism to 
the opinions of the entire pagan and perverted Jevash world. 

* John i. 1-20, and John x. 30. 
3 



50 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

On this account He continually inculcated the necessity of 
faith in all His teachings as another fundamental principle 
of Christianity. He contended not only against all of the 
philosophies and moral and social codes of His epoch, but 
against the passions, prejudices, and habits of the entire 
people. But notwithstanding these formidable obstacles 
to the introduction of the truths of the new dispensation. 
He made no reservations, no compromises, but required of all 
His disciples absolute and un reserved /azYA in Him, His doc- 
trines, and His works, however opposed they might be to 
natural laws, human philosophies, or human reason. In our 
next chapter we shall make a brief allusion to this Christian 
doctrine. 



CHAPTEE III. 

DOCTRINES TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. 



Faith. 



Amois-g the dominant traits of the Latin subjects of Tibe- 
rius were, pride of nationality, of their material culture and 
prosperity, of their skill in arms, of their numerous and pow- 
erful military legions, and of their vast conquests. The ruling 
classes were in the enjoyment of special political and social 
privileges, riches, and most of those accessories which contrib- 
ute to the gratification of pride, ambition, and sensual pleas- 
ure ; while the common people were continually amused, and 
at the same time perverted and debased, by the exciting 
spectacles of the amphitheatre and the arena, or in witness- 
ing or participating in the obscene revels of pagan worship. 
Philosophy, law, public sentiment, and social custom all 
sanctioned the grossest licentiousness, and a cultivation of 
the most brutal passions of the human heart. Elevated sen- 
timents of morality, virtue, benevolence, brotherly love, and 
of the true dignity and destiny of man were scoffed at and 
practically ignored. Their rule of faith was the pursuit of 
pleasure, and the chief object of their lives was self-gratifica- 
tion. They had no just ideas respecting a future spiritual 
existence, or of their responsibilities and duties with regard 
to this spiritual state. The entire world had pinned its faith 
upon absurd and untenable philosophies, which had origi- 



52 CHEISTIANrrY AITD ITS COl^FLICTS. 

nated in primitive and semi-barbarous societies, and wliicli 
were tte offspring of their natural wants and requirements. 

During the first fourteen years of the life of Christ, while 
Octavius Augustus lived, no serious apprehensions were en- 
tertained respecting the nature or the extension of His doc- 
trines. Octavius had been presented to the people by the 
senate, not only with the title of Augustus, but with the ac- 
tual sovereignty and power of an emperor. Throughout the 
civilized world he exercised supreme sway, making and de- 
posing kings, and dictating terms and conditions to the 
nations of the world. Human beings were regarded and 
used as mere instruments to subserve the glory of the state 
and the pride and gratification of the emperor and his favor- 
ites. Individual genius and enterprise were merged in the 
glory of the empire. Philosophers, authors, orators, poets, 
artists, and men of genius in ail departments of art and 
science were patronized and sustained, but only as chattels 
and glory-producing agents. Maxims of philosophy were 
tolerated, so long as they did not clash with the pleasures of 
the people, or the stability and glory of the . empire. The 
philosophers of the Augustan age were at liberty to an- 
nounce broad general principles of philosophy, and vague 
and intangible precepts of morality and virtue, but they were 
forbidden to invade those regions which had been marked out 
by Epicurus as sacred to the appetites, the passions, and the 
worldly desires of men. 

Mechanics, artisans, and agriculturists were required to 
to ply their energies to pander to the sensual tastes and 
the luxury of their patrician rulers. The persons, liberties, 
and lives of females and slaves were rendered subservient 
to the tyrannical caprices and the base passions of their 
wealthy guardians and owners. 

Such was the general condition of the Roman empire 
v/hen Tiberius assumed the imperial purple. He was addicted 
to every vice which a malignant nature and an nnbounded 
indulgence in sensual pleasures could engender. Unendowed 
with a single virtue, accustomed from childhood to the 



FAITH. ^^ 



prompt indulgence of every caprice or passion, surrounded 
hj obsequious sycophants and attendants, who anticipated 
and obeyed every wish, his mind and his natural aiFections 
became perverted, and he lived and reigned as if the world 
had been created solely for his personal benefit and pleasure. 
In his gorgeous island-palace, fanned by the gentle breezes 
of the Mediterranean, and surrounded by more than oriental 
splendors and luxuries, he dispensed, not justice and happi- 
ness to his subjects, but wrongs, cruelties, and oppressions 
of all kinds. Distant nations trembled in constant fear lest 
some imperial blow should strike tliem, and scatter ruin and 
disaster throughout their lands. 

If the followers of Christ were not exterminated by this 
human oppressor, it was because he was too much absorbed 
in revels and pleasures to appreciate their steady progress 
and influence. If the teachings of Christ in Judea did not 
more seriously arouse his suspicions, and alarm him for the 
fate of paganism and her cherished abominations, it was be- 
cause he believed himself omnipotent, not only over his em- 
pire, but over the minds and bodies of his subjects. When 
Christ announced the true God, th» natnre of the soul, the 
necessity of faith, repentance, reformation, baptism, and 
obedience to His commandments, under penalty of eternal 
condemnation, Tiberius regarded these declarations as the 
harmless vaporings of a visionary enthusiast—a humble 
and ignorant mechanic of the poor province of Galilee— and 
revelfed on in fancied security. If he allowed his subordi- 
nates to persecute, torture, and even kill Ihose who professed 
Christianity, it was not from any apprehensions respecting 
the extension and influence of their doctrines, but from sim- 
ple wantonness and inherent cruelty. So long as every form 
of vice had full sway above ground, he cared not what new 
precepts might be inculcated, or new observances practised 
in the catacombs and caves below, or in the moimtams and 
hamlets of Galilee. 

It was at this dark period, and in the midst ot these 
scenes of universal skepticism and wickedness, that St. Paul 



^4 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

made the declaration, that the world is governed by three 
great concupiscences— that of the flesh, that of the eyes, and 
the pride of life. There have been but few epochs in the 
world's history to which this observation applies with greater 
force than to the one under consideration. It was to con- 
tend against these natural desires and passions of men, to 
dissipate superstition and error, and to disseminate the be- 
neficent truths of Christianity, like godliness, faith, hope, and 
charity, that God became incarnate in Christ. 

Throughout His entire career on earth, our Saviour con- 
tinually inculcated the duty and necessity of faith in Him- 
self and His doctrines. He required His followers to throw 
aside all of their preconceived notions, all traditions, and all 
ideas founded upon their own human intelligence, and to be- 
lieve unreservedly in every thing He might teach them. He 
commanded them to discard human philosophy, to become like 
little children, and to confide in Him as the Son of God, and 
in His teachings and works as those of the Almighty. 

His entire mission on earth was replete with miracles, 
and with sayings and doings contrary to the received opin- 
ions of mankind; yet He demanded implicit and uncondi- 
tional faith in them under penalty of condemnation. How- 
ever repugnant to the understandings of men His assertions 
might be, nothing but entire faitli in them could secure sal- 
vation. In the estimation of Jesus, simple and confiding 
faith, like that of little children, was the most exalted trib- 
ute which His disciples could pay to Him. 

His divine conception and birth were miracles ; yet faith 
in them is essential to salvation. His- instantaneous cures 
of the blind, dumb, and lame, and His raising of the dead to 
life, were contrary to human reason ; yet were His followers 
required to have faith in them. His conversion of water 
into wine at the marriage of Cana of Galilee, and His feed- 
ing vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes, were 
miraculous performances ; yet no true Christian presumes to 
doubt them. His conversion of bread and wine into His 
body and blood at the last supper was equally miraculous ; 



FAITH. ^^ 



yet Christians are commanded to believe and to practise this 
sacrifice in commemoration of Him. His resurrection from 
death, and His glorious ascension to heaven, were supernat- 
ural; yet entire faith in them is essential to the true Chris- 
tian. . 

It is a singular fact that the entire Christian world has 
faith in all of these supernatural events except that which 
occurred at the Lord's supper ! Although the miracle there 
performed, and which Christ positively declared should con- 
tinue to he performed as often as His followers " should do 
this same thing in remembrance of Him," was no more 
strange or difficult than the others enumerated, yet a large 
number of protesters have presumed to deny that our Sav- 
iour actually performed the conversion which He professed 
and declared that He performed. These Gentile protestants 
reason as did the Jewish protestants of Christ's day, who 
asked of our Saviour, " Sole can this man give us of His/e^/i 
to eat ? " And we know of no better response than that of 
Jesus to the unbelieving Jews, viz. : " I am the living bread 
which came down from heaven ; if any man eat of this 
bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is 
My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Your 
fithers did eat manna, and are dead; but whosoever eats of 
the living bread shall never die." " Verily, verily I say un- 
to you, except ye eat th^ flesh of the Son of man, and drink 
His Uood, ye have no life in you. ... He that eateth My flesh, 
and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him." * 

St. Cyril of Alexandria, in commenting upon this query 
of the protesting Jews, makes the following observations : 
'• But if, O Jew, thou persistest in uttering this how, I also, 
imitating this thine ignorance, will say to thee, ' Sow didst 
thou go out of Egypt? Tell me how the rod of Moses was 
turned into a serpent, how was his hand made leprous, and 
ao-ain restored, as it is written? How was water changed 
into the nature of blood ? Sow didst thou pass through the 
midst of the sea, as through a dry plain ? Sow was the bit- 
* John vi. 50-57. 



56 



CIIEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 



ter water of Marali changed into sweet by a piece of wood ? 
IIoio was water given thee from the bosom of the rocks ? 
IIoio was the marma brought down from heaven for thee ? 
How did the Jordan stand still in its bed ? or Jiow, by a 
mere shout, did the impregnable wall of Jericho fall? And 
wilt thou not cease to utter that hoio f ' " 

Ko man can be a real Christian who rejects a single as- 
sertion or injunction of Jesus Christ. Ko perversion of lan- 
guage, no false rendering of Scripture, no protesting sophis- 
try, can alter the immutable decrees of the Almighty, or ob- 
viate the necessity of faith in these deci-ees, and the duty of 
a scrupulous performance of them. 

Faith is the foundation-stone of Christianity — the first 
and indispensable element of religion— the alpha and omega 
of the Christian. He who possesses it in all its purity and 
comprehensiveness, will not long neglect the practical duties 
which naturally flow from it. Some have supposed that an 
unquestioning belief in the mysteries of godliness implies a 
lack of intellectual power, and have accordingly subjected 
these mysteries to the critical test of human philosophy and 
human reason, and from such deductions have formed their 
religious opinions. But how presumptuous in man to pre- 
sume to measure the infinite intelligence and power of the 
Almighty with his own finite and grovelling comprehension ! 
What madness to weigh the immutable decrees of the Crea- 
tor in the puny scales of inductive philosophy ! What folly 
to reason, when God asserts ! 

In the days of Christ and the apostles, the results of faith 
were everywhere apparent in the prompt bestowal of boun- 
teous rewards. When the woman with an issue of blood 
for twelve years, touched the hem of Jesus' garment, she 
was instantly cured in consequence of her faith. And when 
the blind, the dumb, the leprous, and the palsied came to 
Christ with faith in Him and His power, they were at once 
made v/hole. And even the ruler of the synagogue who had 
faith tliat Jesus could restore his dead daughter to life by 



FAITH. 



57 



simply willing it to be done, was rewarded by tlie consum- 
mation of this great miracle. 

When the Jews and Gentiles were filled Vv^ith unbelief, 
and even the disciples were wavering in their faith, Jesus 
asked them, saying : " Whom do men say that I, the Son of 
man am ? And they said, Some say that Thou art John 
the Baptist ; some, Elias ; and others Jeremias, or one of the 
prophets. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am ? 
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God. Aud Jesus answered and said unto 
him. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona ; for flesh and blood 
hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in 
heaven. And I say also unto thee. That thou art Peter ; 
and upon this rock I will build My Church ; and the gates 
of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto 
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and whatsoever 
thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and 
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in 
heaven." * 

What a priceless reward of faith is here presented! 
Peter, in the midst of doubting brethren, and assailed by the 
scoffs and deadly pei-secutions of myriads of Jev/ish and pa- 
gan enemies, had full faith that Christ was the Son of the 
living God ; and for this unconditional faith and confidence, 
Tfas made the head and rock of Christ's Church, and was 
presented with the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Among 
all of the apostles, no one had such absolute and confiding 
faith as Simon Peter ; and he was therefore selected to pre- 
side over them and His Church as His nearest and most hon- 
ored representative. 

When Peter called the attention of Jesus to the fig-tree 
which had been cursed and withered, Jesus answered, " Have 
faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever 
shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou 
cast into the sea ; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall 
believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass ; 

* Matt. xvi. 14-20. 
3* 



58 CIIEISTIANITY AKD ITS CONFLICTS. 

he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto 
you, what things soever ye desbe, when ye pray, believe 
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." * 

Again, when some of the disciples informed Thomas that 
they had seen Jesus after His resurrection, Thomas said, " Ex- 
cept I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put 
my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into 
His side, I will not believe. And after eight days again His 
disciples were within, and Thomas with them ; then came 
Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, 
Peace be unto you. Then said He to Thomas, Reach hither 
thy finger, and behold My hands ; and reach hither thy 
hand, and thrust it into My side ; and be not faithless, but be- 
lieving. And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord 
and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou 
hast seen Me, thou hast believed : blessed are they that have 
not seen and yet have believed." f 

Mankind are naturally skeptical, conceited, carnah But 
God in His mercy vouchsafed to make His truths manifest to 
the world by a series of stupendous miracles. Almost every 
precept inculcated was accompanied by some miraculous 
performance, in order that the most hardened skeptic might 
become convinced. 

Christ announced to the world that He was the Son of 
the living God, that He became incarnate in order to teach 
mankind the will of God, to give a practical example of a 
holy life, and then to suffer and die as an atonement for their 
sins. He required faith in all of these things— in Himself 
and His works ; and He exercised His supernatural power 
for the purpose of enabling mankind to accomplish this re- 
quirement. After all the amazing miracles which He per- 
formed, and the wonderful precepts of wisdom He has left 
behind, it is indeed strange that a single skeptic can be found. 
Have faith in God, said our Saviour to His apostles, and 
you can command mountains to move away and cast them- 
selves into the sea, or whatever else you may ask for, and 
* Mark xi. 22-24. j j^hn xx. 25-30. 



FAITH. 



59 



your commands shall be obeyed. " If ye had faith as a grain 
of mustard-seed, ye might say unto this sycamore-tree, Be 
thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea : 
and it should obey you. Therefore I say nnto you, What 
things soever ye desire, when ye pray, helieve that ye receive 
them, and ye shall have them." Peter and his disciples had 
perfect faith in these things, because they were asserted by 
the Son of God ; and it was in virtue of this faith that they 
were enabled to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out 
devils, raise the dead to life, and at the Lord's supper to 
partake of the actual body and blood of Christ, so that " He 
should abide in them and they in Him," as it is written. 
Peter and his holy companions did not profess to understand 
the rationale of these things, because they were not of men 
but of God. He who created the heavens and earth from 
chaos, gave to them and to the world certain declarations 
and assurances, and demanded implicit faith in them as es- 
sential to their temporal and eternal welfare. Among these 
declarations were included many things of a supernatural 
character pertaining both to the present and' the future. We 
cite a few of these supernatural events which have occurred, 
or are to occur in the future : The conception, incarnation, 
birth, miracles, resurrection, and ascension of Christ ; the 
daily conversion of bread and wine into His body and blood 
since the last supper; the miracles which have been performed 
by holy men since the days of the apostles ; and finally the 
calamities, the wars, the tribulations, the darkening of the 
sun and moon, the falling of the stars from heaven, earth- 
quakes, " and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man 
in heaven ; and then shall all of the tribes of the earth 
mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the 
clouds of heaven with power and great glory." * 

Do our protesting friends, who graduate every thing down 
to their human philosophy, doubt these things ? Because they 
cannot analyze and explain by natural laws these past occur- 
rences, and those Avhich are announced in the future, will they 



* Matt. xxiv. 30. 



60 CIIKISTIANITT A^D ITS CONFLICTS. 

Still persist in perverting the words of Christ, and in declaring 
that He spoke one thing and meant another ? 

But Protestants assert that these declarations of our Lord 
were only applicable to the apostles, and to the period in 
which they lived. In proof of this assertion, they argue that 
the power of performing miracles was conferred exclusively 
upon them, and that after their death all of these promises 
and rewards incident to faith were null. But the proofs are 
overwhelming that miracles have repeatedly been performed 
by holy men as a reward of faith since the days of the apos- 
tles. 

IsTothing less remarkable than these miracles could have 
efiected the conversion of the men of that period. The first 
great end and aim of Christ v/as to secure faith in Himself 
and His teachings ; and He adopted the most direct and effi- 
cient mode for attaining this end, by continually presenting 
to the people supernatural manifestations of His power. 

By nature men are skeptical, and readily influenced by 
prejudice, passion, ambition, and love of display, power, 
luxury, and pleasure. The dominant habits of life teud to 
wed them firmly to these worldly attachments, and to divert 
them from the more refined and elevating delights of spiritual 
things. In consequence of these natural instincts and pro- 
pensities, and the habits resulting from them, our Saviour 
was obliged to appeal to them in His dual capacity of God 
and man : as man, in addressing their finite understandings 
(for God is infinite and incomprehensible) ; and as God, in 
accomplishing works beyond the power of men. Sent to 
proclaim to the world the commands of the Father in heaven, 
He spake as a man, but His works were those of a God. 
Meek, loving, tender, charitable, compassionate, long-sufier- 
ing, forgiving, merciful, slow to anger, He drew His dis- 
ciples to Him with the silken cords of love, but confirmed 
their faith by Godlike achievements. He instructed His dis- 
ciples to be humble, patient, forbearing, and afiectionate, but 
enabled thorn through faith to work miracles. 

Christ did not come into the world for the exclusive 



FAITH. "l 



benefit of the apostles and their contemporaries, but to an- 
nounce to all the nations of that period, and of succeeding 
a<ves to the end of the world, the way of salvation. To in- 
sure faith and a general compliance with His commanas, 
miracles were necessary; and these miraculous deeds have 
been permitted by the Almighty whenever and wherever 
they were necessai-y to secure faith in the gospel and conver- 
sions to Christianity. . , . , 

In Christian countries marvellous and contmual miracles 
are no longer necessary to insure a belief in the words and 
works of Christ ; but among barbarous and idolatrous nations 
supernatural manifestations are still permitted by God as 
auxiliaries to their conversion. The Creator of the universe 
adapts His means to the end to be attained-forcmg fai h 
and conviction ^ipon those who are dwelling in spiritual dart- 
ness by supernatural manifestations, but withholdmg them 
f.-om those who have a knowledge of the truth. 

In the days of the apostles the results of fait!) were more 
marked than in modern times, because the magnitude of the 
work to be accomplished was far greater then than now. 
The Jews and Gentiles of that epoch were not only unbe- 
lievers but bound hand and foot by traditionary supersti- 
tions, idolatry, and sin. With such a people the miraculous 
power of God was requisite to overthrow their deep-rooted 
preiudices and convert them to the true faith 

In modern times the results of faith have been_ manifested 
chieflv in the divine graces which have been contmually con- 
ferred upon the faithful. Every sincere Christian vf ho eon- 
suits his own lieart will confess that his faith and confidence 
in God, and his prayers, have all been rewarded by graces 
and blessings from above, which have sustained hrm and eon 
soled him in the midst of the trials and cares of hie. It the 
modern Christian cannot by faith command the mountam to 
move from its bed and plant itself in the sea, he can call down 
from heaven graces which shall bless and exalt him here and 

Thrmost concise and perfect expression of Christian faith 



^^ CIIKISTIANITY AND ITS COJ^^FLICTS. 

is that which was composed by the inspired apostles before 
dispersing themselves to preach the gospel. This " Apos- 
tles'^ Creed » has ever since constituted an essential part of 
Christian worship. 

The Fathers of Trent divided this creed into twelve dif- 
ferent articles, and presented lucid and extensive explanations 
of each article. 

In this creed perfect faith is required in one spiritual and 
personal God, " who by His omnipotence created from noth- 
ing, preserves and governs the heavens and the earth and all 
thmgs which they encompass." Man is required to believe 
unreservedly in this Almighty and Incomprehensible Being, 
and to raise no question as to the rationale of His existence ; 
"for when God commands us to believe. He does not propose 
to us to search into His divine judgments, or to inquire into 
their reasons and their causes, but demands an immutable 
faith, by the efficacy of which the mind reposes in the knowl- 
edge of eternal truth." * 

The same faith is asserted in Jesus Christ as the only Son 
of the Father, begotten from eternity, equal in all respects to, 
and identical in essence and substance with the Father, and 
distinct only in their peculiar relations : also in His concep- 
tion, birth, mission, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, 
and second coming, when He shall "judge the living and the 
dead:" also in the Holy Ghost as the third person of the 
Trinity, begotten of the Father and Son from eternity 
" equally God with the Father and Son, equally omnipotent,' 
eternal, perfect, the supreme good, infinitely wise, and of the 
same nature with the Father and Son."t Also in the Holy 
Catholic Church, with all of her written and traditional doc- 
trmes. As Christ founded this Church, endowed it with all 
truth, and sent down the Holy Spirit to preside over it to the 
end of the world, so that the gates of hell should not prevail 
against it, we may rest assured that the design of its Divine 
Founder has been accomplished, and that the sacred trust 
has been faithfully kept : also in " the resurrection of the 
* Cat. of the Council of Trent, p. 22. f Council of Trent, p. 67. 



FAITH. ^^ 



body," "and the life everlastiDg," which the Fathers of 
Trent declare were intended "to convey an important trnth, 
the immortality of the soul." ^ . -, . 

Nearly all of the Apostles' Creed demands absolute faith m 
mysteries which are entirely incomprehensible by man. Who 
can appreciate the infinite power and majesty of the Al- 
mio-hty ^ Who can understand the mysteries of the Trmity, 
of the Incarnation, of the Resurrection, and of the Ascension ? 
Who can analyze the nature and capacities of the soul, and 
define the boundaries of spiritual existence ? 

The very foundation of the Christian religion consists in 
faith in many things which are above natural laws, and 
which cannot be comprehended by mortals. Religion re- 
qnires us to believe the simple assertions of Christ, however 
repugnant they may appear to reason, or to the ordinary laws 

of matter. 

A fundamental principle of the Christian religion is entire 
faith in the gospel. The essence of true faith consists m be- 
lievhig implicitly, simply, without mental reservation, and 
independently of private judgment, all the teachings of this 
o'ospel No mortal can possess this faith without a due ap- 
preciation of the fact that the Almighty is infinite, and there- 
fore incomprehensible ; that His knowledge and power have 
no limits ; that His ways are not our ways; and that what 
may appear mysterious and improbable to the finite compi;e- 
hension, is always clear and simple to the Infinite mtelli- 

o'cnce 

"^ Man cannot comprehend the rationale of the creation of 
the world. He knows of no natural laws which can explain 
the formation of the heavens and the earth from chaos m a 
brief period, nor the mysterious phenomena of vegetable and 
animal life, nor the wonderful operations of human thought 

and reason. 

The soul of man looks out from the windows of the phys- 
ical body as through some optical instrument, and all its 
operations are limited to the capacities of the different organs. 
Throuo-h the eyes and ears it can define objects and distm- 



64 



CHBISTIAmTY AND ITS COKFX_.IGTS. 



gLiish soniids from limited distances, and through the other 
senses it derives certain impressions respecting the nature 
and properties of substances. By the use of optical, aural 
and other mstruments, it can distinguish objects and s-ounds 
Irom still greater distances, and obtain a better appreciation 
of the nature and properties of matter. But the infinite in- 
telhgence of Jehovah can span the heavens and the earth in 
the twmldmg of an eye, ever seeing and appreciating all 
things. It becometh men, then, to accept all of the doctrines 
ot the gospel without cavil, reservation, or doubt. 
^ During the sojourn of our Saviour upon earth, great mul- 
titudes of people heard His divine words and saw His wonder- 
ful imrades. Many believed in Him and worshipped Him as 
the Saviour of the world. Even the unbelieving Jews wit- 
nessed and acknowledged His miracles, declaring that He 
performed them through the aid of Beelzebub ; while they de- 
nounced Him as a false prophet, and His doctrines as false 
ooctrines. In like manner, the miracles of Peter, John, and 
other disciples were witnessed by large numbers of people 
and therefore readily believed in. ' ' 

These elements of Christian faith appealed directly and 
overwhelmingly to those who were contemporaneous with 
Onrist and His disciples, and v/ere in many instances followed 
by an immediate, absolute, and abiding faith in what was 
taught and practised. Both sacred and profane history have 
handed down to us a record of these momentous occurrences 
with a perfect accord as to the facts themselves. They have 
also handed down to us, with the same coinciding testimony 
otner miraculous performances. ' 

On the strength of these records, all actual Christians 
have an implicit faith in the doctrines there inculcated, and 
the miracles there performed. They do not entertain the 
slightest doubt that Christ and His disciples then raised 
the dead, cured the lame, the blind, and the deaf; turned 
water into wine; fed multitudes fi'om a few small loaves 
and fishes, and at the last supper converted bread and 
wme mto the actual body and blood of Jesus. All of 



FAITH. 



65 



these things they believe, because they stand on the im- 
mutable pages of the Sacred Scriptures, and are corrobo- 
rated by the profane writings of those who were opposed 
to the Saviour. All of these events were above natural 
laws, and incomprehensible to human reason, yet the whole 
Christian world gives entire credence to them. 

Faith in Jesus Christ and His teachings, as inculcated 
in the Holy Scriptures and in the traditions of the Church 
which He established previous to His ascension, is unques- 
tionably a fundamental element of the Christian religion. 
The mission of our Saviour on earth was a mission from God 
to man — a revelation from an Infinite and Incomprehensible 
Creator to His finite, erring, and weak creatures. He came, 
not to discuss doctrinal points, or to reconcile human philoso- 
phies, or to render himself subservient to the hypotheses or 
the reasonings of men, but to teach the will and announce 
the commands of the Father who sent Him. From begin- 
ning to end His mission was characterized by supernatural 
deeds, and the inculcation of precepts and practices opposed 
to those which then universally obtained. From these facts 
we may understand why our Lord so frequently insisted on 
faith in Him and His works, and why He promised and be- 
stowed such rich rewards upon those who had faith. 

But, notwithstanding the importance of faith as an ele- 
ment of Christianity, it cannot secure salvation unless accom- 
panied by appropriate works. Faith is an indispensable 
principle of religion — a foundation-stone of the divine edifice, 
but it is only a single element among many which pertain to 
the true Christian. It is the alphabet of the religious neo- 
phyte — a simple mental act, without fruits or profits, until 
the practical duties of Christianity have been appreciated 
and mastered. In a future chapter we shall make allusion to 
this subject. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DOCTEINES TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. 



Repentance, Confession, and Reformation. 

Amoxg the fundamental doctrines taught by Jesus 
Christ, were repentance, confession, and reformation. The 
doctrines ah^eady referred to— faith in God, in the Trinity, 
and in Christ and His mission— require only a simple mental 
effort and resolution on the part of the faithful; while true 
penance demands both faith and works. Ko man can be a 
true Christian who does not feel and express hearty sorrow 
and contrition for having violated the commandments of 
God, and firmly resolve to obey them in future. In accept- 
ing the title and the duties of a Christian, he incurs a most 
solemn obligation to obey the divine precepts and command- 
ments, and to avoid committing any act which might retard 
the progress of Christ's kingdom on earth. But if, in an 
unguarded moment, he yields to temptation, and commits a 
mortal sin, it is an immediate and imperative duty to feel 
and express sorrow and contrition for having offended his 
God, and to resolve on amendment. 

When a son disobeys an earthly father, and brings disor- 
der, perversion, and disgrace into the family circle, he is just- 
ly expelled, for violating the peace and honor of the paternal 
home; and he can be received back again only by express- 
ing sorrow for his offences, and reforming his life. The har- 



67 

mony, honor, and welfare of the family require the fulfil- 
ment of these conditions, before forgiveness and reconcilia- 
tion can be granted. 

In like manner do the honor, harmony, and welfare of 
the kingdom of God on earth require the same conditions of 
repentance, acknowledgment, and reformation, on the part 
of those who disobey the divine commandments. In a 
worldly point of view, it is universally conceded that it is 
the duty of a prodigal son who has brought disturbance and 
scandal upon his house, to repent, reform, and confess his 
faults, before he can properly hope for pardon. How much 
more ought he, who sins against God, and brings disorder 
and disgrace into the Church of Christ, to be penitent, and 
to confess his offences, before receiving forgiveness! For 
breaking the commandments of an earthly parent, the erring 
child is excluded from the comforts of home, and the social 
enjoyments of the domestic circle; but for violating the com- 
mandments of the heavenly Parent, he perils his eternal hap- 
piness, and deprives himself forever of the society of saints 
and angels. 

Pride and self-love are among the dominant passions of 
the human heart. Men do not hesitate to labor and to suffer 
for a lifetime, in order to secure the good opinions a^d the 
applause of the world. They stand up in deadly strife 
against those who have presumed to assail their honor. 
They brave the perils of the battle-field, the ocean, and the 
savage wilderness, in pursuit of fame and glory. If they are 
actuated by ignoble sentiments, or if they sin in thought 
and deed, it is because they believe that these degrading se- 
crets are hidden from the eyes of the world. When sin runs 
riot within the human breast — pent up, silent, unrepented, 
and unacknowledged — conscience and truth become dormant 
and inoperative, and man falls an easy prey to the wiles of 
the tempter. His pride and self-love receive no shock from 
exterior influences ; no curious spectator can scan his 
thoughts, desires, motives, or criticise his secret offences; 
no ambassador of Christ beholds the record of his offences. 



68 



CIIEISTIANITY AND ITS COI^FLICTS. 



and announces to Iilm the penalties of sin, and the rewards 
of Christian virtue, and therefore he persists in his evil 

ways. 

Men are naturally prone to evil. Their natural propensi- 
ties and inclinations impel them, with almost resistless im- 
pulse, to licentiousness, luxury, ostentation, display, covet- 
ousness, and to worldly ambition; and in the acquisition of 
means to gratify these desires, they are apt to consult inter- 
est rather than conscience. Momentarily these propensities 
beckon their victims on, and tempt them vfith riches, pomp, 
luxury, power, pleasure, and every personal gratification. 
Fnaided by the potent restraints of religion, these influences 
would, as a general rule, gain the mastery over poor human 
nature. Fortunately for mankind, there are counteracting 
agencies within the reach of all, equally potent to coniba't 
these tendencies to sin, and to rescue them from danger. 

Chief among these conservative agencies stand the fear 
and love of God, and the practice of the sacraments. Among 
the latter, that of penance and confession holds a high rank. 
All men involuntarily shrink from acknowledging tlieir 
faults, their weaknesses, their meannesses, and their viola- 
tions of the laws of God and man. Pride, self conceit, 
shame,^mortification, all serve to render confession repulsive 
and distasteful. The idea of being obliged to declare to a 
fellow-man, whose respect we desire, that we have lied, 
cheated, slandered, stolen, committed adultery, and numer- 
ous other sins, is so abhorrent to every decent instinct as to 
constitute a pov/erful barrier against the commission of these 
sins. The man who does not believe in the necessity of con- 
fession soon acquires the happy faculty of compromising 
with his conscience as occasion requires, and of obliterating 
all memory of, and responsibility for, past sins. Such a njan 
may pass through life with head erect, and every way re- 
spectable in the eyes of the world ; but at the day of judg- 
ment, when all hearts will be exposed to view, is there not 
danger that this self-reliant heart will be found black, and 
loaded down with unrepented sins ? 



EEPENTANCE, CONFESSIOJN^, AND EEFOSMATIOK. 



69 



Confession also imposes upon every one an imperative ne- 
cessity of frequently reviewing his sins, and of repenting of 
them.' It permits no sinner to compromise with his con- 
science, or to evade his responsibility for a single grievoiis 
sin ; but he is in duty bound to acknowledge all to his 
spiritual adviser, and to repent of all sincerely, before the 
" ambassador " and agent of Jesus is authorized to grant him 
God's forgiveness. If he deceives the mortal and finite 
agent, and confesses his offences with his lips, but repents 
not in his heart, the Searcher of hearts hears his idle words, 
and sees his still hardened heart, and adds fourfold to his 
condemnation in the book of life. He may deceive his spir- 
itual father, and receive from him verbal absolution, but he 
cannot deceive his heavenly Father, nor obtain from Him a 
ratification of the fraudulent transaction. The Church has 
always declared that confession and absolution, without 
honest repentance, are invalid, and priests are always in- 
structed to impress this solemn fact upon their people. Our 
Saviour has instructed His ministers to preach His gospel to 
every creature, to invite them to believe in Him, to adore 
and worship Him, to repent, to confess, to be baptized ; and 
He has authorized them to grant the Divine forgiveness to 
all those who obey these commands ; but He has given His 
temporal agents no power to read the heart, or to detect 
hypocrisy and deceit. The ultimate issue, therefore, is in 
the hands of the Almighty, and woe be to him who has con- 
fessed with his lips, but mocked at the mercy and majesty 
of Jehovah in his heart ! 

One of the objections raised against the sacrament of 
penance and confession is the fact, that priests acquire a 
knowledge of the vices and weaknesses of their penitents, 
and may make use of them for unworthy purposes. This 
aTgument is not tenable, because the principle of penance and 
confession is of divine origin, and no act of man can change 
or impair a liuv or a command of God. Judas Iscariot 
acted the part of a hypocrite, and betrayed his Master, but 
he did not alter or weaken in the slightest degree the word 



^0 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

of God. So may a priest betray his trust as confessor, and 
commit grievous sins against his people and his Maker, but 
he cannot alter the Divine ordinances. He may still further 
corrupt an erring and half-repentant sinner, but he blackens 
his own soul and risks eternal perdition. The All-seeing eye 
looks down both upon the confessor and the penitent, and each 
must render a strict account of his stewardship. Individuals 
professing to be ambassadors of Christ may violate His 
sacred laws, but the laws themselves are immutable and eter- 
nal. Ministers of the gospel may daily break all of the com- 
mands of the decalogue, but the commandments still remain 
unaltered — a beacon of light, knowledge, and hope to the 
tempest-tossed sinner. Let us not, then, reproach the laws 
of God for any wicked act of a professed disciple. 

Protestants tauntingly accuse Catholics of committing 
sins wantonly under the impression that the simple ipse dixit 
of the priest can absolve them from all blame and from every 
penalty. We refute these errors by a brief exposition of the 
actual doctrines of the Church upon this subject, as estab- 
lished by the Bible, and as taught in the canons and decrees 
of the Fathers of Trent. 

Catholics believe in the necessity of Repentance and Con- 
fession of sins, because our Saviour and His apostles every- 
where inculcated the importance of these duties. We cite a 
few passages from the Old and N'ew Testaments to illustrate 
this assertion. 

When the apostle was asked what men must do to be 
saved, he replied as follows : " Confess therefore your shis 
one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be 
saved." * " Do penance," says the Redeemer, " for the king- 
dom of heaven is at hand."t Again: "There went out to 
him (St. John) Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region 
round about Judea, and were baptized by him in the Jordan, 
confessing their sins.'' J In another place our Saviour says, 
" Unless you do pena7ice, you shall all perish." § Again : 

* James v. 16. f Matt. iv. 17. 

t Matt. iii. 1-6. § Luke xiii. 3-5. 



REPENTANCE. CONFESSION, AND KEFORMATION. Tl 

" Many of them that believed, came (to Paul), confessing and 
declaring their deeds^ These brief extracts from the 
New Testament include both the positive command of the 
apostles to maJce confession as Avell as actual acts of con- 
fession. Again : " If we say we have no sin, we deceive 
ourselves ; hut ifioe confess our sins, God is faithful and just 
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity." f 
Again : " For with the heart man believeth unto righteous- 
ness, and with the mouth cooifession is made unto salva- 
tion:^ X Again : " If the wicked do penance for all his sins, 
which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, 
and do judgment and justice, living he shall live, and shall 
not die. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniqui- 
ties, and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast aAvay from 
you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, 
and make yourselves a new heart." § Again : " Say to the 
children of Israel, When a man or woman shall have com- 
mitted any of all the sins that men are wont to commit, 
and by negligence shall have transgressed the command- 
ment of the Lord, and offended ; they shall confess their sin.:' \\ 
Again : " He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper ; but he 
that shall confess and forsalce them, shall obtain mercy." 1" 
Again : " For thy soul, be not ashamed to say the truth. 
For there is a shame that bringeth sin, and there is a shame 

that bringeth glory and grace Be not ashamed to co72- 

fess thy sins ; hut submit not thyself to every man for sin:' ^* 
Again : " I will recount to thee all my years, in the bitter- 
ness of my soul." f f 

We have presented these few extracts from the sacred 
writings to prove that penance and confession of sins 
were habitually taught and practised both by the apostles 
and by the men of the old dispensation. These chosen and 
inspired men of God would never have sanctioned, or advised, 

* Acts six. 10, 13. \ 1 John i. 8, 9. 

X Rom. X. 10. § Ezek. viii. 21, 22. 

I Num. V. 6-7. IT Prov. xxviii. 13. 

-** Eccl. iv, 24, 25, 31. ft Isa. xxxviii. 15. 



72 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

cr practised these observances unless tbey had been divinely 
instituted, and calculated to promote the cause they advo- 
cated. All of those tenets and practices of the old dispensa- 
tion which had become useless, were ignored by the apostles 
of Christ ; while those which were to be continued in force, 
like the ten commandments, penance, etc., were reasserted 
and practically established as fundamental principles of 
Christianity. 

From the fact that Christ gave to His ministers " the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven," and the power of " binding 
and loosing from sin," it is evident that He intended that 
faith, repentance, and confession should precede the exercise 
of this delegated authority. From whatever point of view 
we regard this sacrament, whether as a command of God, a 
precept and practice of the holy apostles and prophets, a 
dogma of the Church, or as a worldly barrier against sin, and 
a promoter of virtue, it should meet the approval of every 
earnest Christian. As the Fathers of Trent truly observed : 
" Confession contributes powerfully to the preservation of 
social order. Abolish sacramental confession, and that mo- 
ment you deluge society with all sorts of secret crimes — 
crimes too, and others of still greater enormity, which men, 
once that they have been depraved by vicious habits, will 
not dread to commit in open day. The salutary shame 
which attends confession restrains licentiousness, bridles de- 
sire, and coerces the evil propensities of corrupt nature." * 

Many of the leading reformers, like Luther, Calvin, Bucer, 
and Melanchthon, after they had witnessed the disastrous ef- 
fects resulting from a repudiation and neglect of this sacra- 
ment, expressed the most bitter regrets that they had con- 
nived at this revolution against the Church of God. Says 
Luther: "The world grows worse and worse, and becomes 
more wicked every day. Men are now more given to re- 
venge, more avaricious, more devoid of mercy, less modest, and 
more incorrigible, in fine, more wicked than in the papacy." f 

-* Council of Trent, p. 191. 

f Liitb. in Pot. Sup. 1 Dan. Ad ; apud Am. Dis?., vol. i., let. 2, an. 2, p. 85. 



REPENTANCE, CONFESSION, AND EEFOEMATION. 73 

Calvin takes tlie same view as follows : "Of the thousands 
who renounced popery, how few have amended their lives ! 
Indeed, what else did the greater part pretend to, than, 
by shaking off the yoke of superstition, to give themselves 
more liberty, and to plunge into every sort of lascivious- 
ness ? " * 

As confession of sins is one of the duties required of the 
penitent sinner, the discipline of the Church, as well as every 
principle of reason, fitness, and sound policy have desig- 
nated the priests and ministers of the Church as the most 
suitable persons to receive such confession. ISTot only have 
the priests been appointed by Christ to hear confessions, but 
they have been selected to preach and teach His holy truths, 
to urge sinners to repentance and reformation, and to say to 
them as agents and servants of Christ, do these things faith- 
fully and sincerely, and I am authorized by my Master, Christ, 
to declare to you that your sins are forgiven. The canons of 
the Church imperatively require all priests to be certain that 
all persons coming to the confessional shall fully understand 
the exact nature of the duties and responsibilities pertaining 
to the sacrament. Every priest knows that he perils his 
own soul, if he arrogates to himself the supreme and absolute 
power and authority which belong alone to God, or if he 
permits an ignorant man to suppose for an instant that the 
inherent and essential power to forgive sins pertains to him- 
self. It is his sacred duty to inform the applicant that he is 
a humble agent of Christ v/ith a divine power of attorney, 
to hear confessions, to teach holy truths, to give good advice 
and information upon spiritual matters, to warn against con- 
fessing with the lips while the heart is uncontrite and unre- 
pentant, and to pronounce absolution in the name of the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in cases apparently suitable. 
The Catholic Church has ever taught that though a priest has 
pronounced absolution to a man who has confessed his sins, 
and apparently complied v/ith all of the requirements of 
the confessional, the act is not valid unless the penance and 

* Calvin, lib. vi., de Scand, ap. L.ing. Tracts, p, 2S5, edit. 1813. 
4 



T4 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

the confession have been real and thorough. The priest 
hears the confession, carefully examines the applicant, and, 
if satisfied, pronounces absolution as the agent of Christ, 
provided the repentance and the confession have been sin- 
cere. The priest lets the penitent clearly understand that 
he may deceive the mortal and fallible agent of the Almighty, 
but that he cannot deceive Him who reads the heart and who 
numbers the very hairs of the head. Lip confession, with- 
out contrition, may draw from the priest words of absolu- 
tion ; but every Catholic knows that these words are only 
valid in cases where all the conditions of the confessional 
are complied with. A false confession adds to the guilt of 
the sinner, and places his soul in imminent peril. Every 
Catholic, however ignorant or humble, is aware of this fact, 
and governs himself accordingly. The charge so often 
made by Protestants that the lower classes do not compre- 
hend or aiDpreciate this fact, is a gratuitous assertion ; for 
it is an obligatory and sacred duty on the part of all priests 
to be quite sure that every one who applies for absolution 
shall fully understand the nature, duties, and responsibilities 
which pertain to the subject. 

Aware of the importance which was attached by Christ 
and Plis apostles to confession, it is a common custom of 
Protestants to confess to each other their sins in open meet- 
ings. We have often heard such confessions made by Pres- 
byterians, Baptists, and Methodists, at exhortation and other 
meetings, with general details of the sins committed; but the 
impression has always remained with us, that the most 
flagrant sins were omitted in the enumeration. Not being 
regarded as obligatory, or as a sacrament by these sects, 
they only confess the more trivial transgressions, while the 
mortal ones remain buried within the silent depths of their 
own hearts. 

A general and unsystematic confession must, of necessity, 
be imperfect ; and when, not regarded as essential to salva- 
tion, will rarely be performed at all. Confessions made to 
worldly men, or to sinful or indifferent companions, would 



EEPENTANCE, CONFESSIOIT, AKD EEFOEMATION". 75 

generally be received witli sneers, ridicule, or indifference; 
and as a consequence, the needed advice and encouragement 
could not be secured. How reasonable, then, that the priests 
of God should be the recipients of these confidential com- 
m.unications, so that by their examples and holy counsels they 
may be able to direct and sustain hesitating penitents in their 
efforts at repentance and reformation ! 

Even the Catholic Church does not object to public con- 
fession ; but, for the reasons indicated, private confessions 
have been adopted as the general rule of the Church. Upon 
this subject the Canons and Decrees of Trent teach as fol- 
lows : " As to the manner of confessing secretly to a priest 
alone, although Christ has not forbidden that a person may — 
in punishment of his sins, and for his own humiliation, as 
well as for an example to others, as for the edification of the 
Church that lias been scandalized, confess his sins publicly ; 
nevertheless, this is not commanded by a divine precept; 
neither would it be very prudent to enjoin by any human 
law that sins, especially such as are secret, should be made 
known by a public confession." * 

The same canons declare that "the absolution of the 
priest is the dispensation of another's bounty, ^'' f 

To the last day of his life Luther regretted that he had 
ever attacked the sacrament of penance. He repeatedly ac- 
knowledged that wickedness and sin had greatly increased 
wherever the salutary restraints of the confessional had been 
annulled. 

Who presumes to deny that a belief and practice of this 
sacrament do not exercise a powerful influence in deterring 
from sin? Who does not know that the confessional lays 
bare the entire criminal record of the human heart, and that 
the dark picture is held up to the gaze of the sinner by the 
agent of God, with all its dread penalties attached, until his 
heart softens with repentance and contrition ? 

But, argues the Protestant, priests abuse their sacred 
office, and pervert the secrets they derive from the confes- 

* Canons of Council of Trent, p. 99. f Ibid., p. 100. 



76 CHEISTIANITY A^^D ITS CONFLICTS. 

sional to their own private purposes or to the interests of 
the Church. This is a gratuitous, sweeping, and unfounded 
assertion ; because every Catholic priest knov/s tliat he would 
sacrifice his eternal salvation by violating the obligations of 
his office. Under such circumstances he must be a very bold, 
as well as a very wicked man, who would dare stake his soul 
ao-ainst temporary worldly interest. Worldly policy would 
likewise deter him from abuses of this kind, as frequent public 
exposures, with their consequent scandals, would be in- 
evitable. 

"We concede that it is possible for bad men to pervert 
important truths, and to violate the most sacred laws and 
precepts. But such acts cannot shake the foundations of 
truth, virtue, and goodness. Judas betrayed, and Peter de- 
nied the Saviour ; but these abuses of trust did not impair 
the importance or integrity of the divine lawS and precepts 
announced to the world. It is possible for a wicked priest 
to pervert the sacred duties of the confessional, but he is so 
hedged around with penalties and dangers of every kind, that 
such an occurrence is scarcely probable or possible. A wicked 
judge may pervert the most wise and just laws ; may set free 
the guilty and punish the innocent, and temporarily convert 
the judiciary into an instrument of oppression and licentious- 
ness. But the laws themselves are incorruptible, and by their 
own inherent truth and justice will ever vindicate themselves, 
and triumph over individual falsehood and injustice. So will 
the laws of God and of the Church always assert their in- 
herent truthfulness and beneficent power, and triumph over 
personal infidelity and wickedness. 

It has often been truly observed that if the Catholic 
Church had regarded simply its own aggrandizement, it 
would have omitted the sacrament of penance. Every in- 
stinct and impulse of the natural man rebels against the con- 
fession of his sins and weaknesses. Confession to a fellow- 
mortal of faults, crimes, and other violations of the divine 
laws and commands, involves a degree of moral courage and 
conscientiousness which many men do not possess. The 



KEPENTANCE, CONFESSION, AND EEFOEMATION. 77 

Strongest sentiments and passions of men, like pride, love of 
admiration, conceit, lust, and self-gratification, are all arrayed 
against anricular confession. So long as sins can be com- 
mitted, and their dark tracks remain unseen except by the 
All-seeing eye, the sinner will be apt to continue in his 
\^icked courses ; but let him be made to believe that his 
eternal salvation depends upon a truthful confession of his 
sins to a fellow-man, and he will commit fewer trespasses, 
and be more obedient to the commandments of God. 

Had the Catholic Church heeded its knowledge of hu- 
man nature, rather than its knovdedge of the requirements 
of God, it would have left out from its creed an observance 
so humiliating to human pride as auricular confession of sins. 
But as the Church was endowed by Christ with all truth, 
and as the Holy Spirit has since presided over it as its per- 
petual guardian amd support, this sacrament has ever re- 
mained fixed and immutable. 



CHAPTEE Y. 

DOCTRINES TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. 



Baptism, 

\k all ages of the world it has been customary to inaugu- 
rate important events by certain appropriate forms, ceremo- 
nies, or other acts. The joyous festivities at betrothals, 
marriages, and births, and the mournful sorrowings over the 
dead, and over local or national calamities, serve to impress 
strongly upon the mind, and to commemorate these events. 

How much more important that the Christian soldier 
who enlists under the banner of the Cross, should be initiated 
with appropriate ceremonies, and in all solemnity ! In taking 
a step which rescues him from everlasting perdition, and 
exalts him to a position which secures for him eternal happi- 
ness, the Christian inaugurates a new era in his life, and 
should be impressed as much as possible with its importance. 
The sacrament of baptism accomplishes this object. 

As water is employed to wash away all impurities from 
the physical body, our Saviour deemed it a fit emblem to 
cleanse the spiritual body from its impurities. Christ prac- 
tically established this sacrament when He was baptized in 
the Jordan by John ; and He enjoined on us its necessity 
when He commanded His apostles to " go into the whole 
world, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching 



BAPTISM. ^^ 



them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 



you " * 



The imperative necessity of a belief in, and a due observ- 
ance of this sacrament, is demonstrated in the following 
explicit declaration of our Redeemer: "Unless a man be 
born again of water, and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter 
into the kingdom of God."t In ^^^ face of this positive as- 
sertion, certain pretended reformers, puffed up with human 
pride and conceit, have dared to protest also against this in- 
junction of the Almighty, and to deny that He really in- 
tended it as a serious declaration ! These impious men, 
affecting wisdom superior to that of Christ, have presumed 
to protest against this passage of Scripture as void of signifi- 
cance, figurative, trifling ; and each one has substituted m 
its place some new Protestant idea as caprice has dictated. 

But the Catholic takes Christ at His word, and believes 
and practises the sacrament precisely as he has been com- 
manded to do. He holds fast to the doctrine that " he that 
believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth 
not shall be condemned ;" I and he applies to himself prac- 
tically what St. Peter prescribed to the multitude who 
asked Him what they should do to be saved. "Do penance 
and be baptized every one of you, in the name of the Lord 
Jesus Christ." § 

The following passages of Scripture still further demon- 
strate the importance of this sacrament : " The Church is 
cleansed by the laver of water, in the word of life. " |1 " There 
are three pei^ons that give testimony on earth ; the Spirit, 
the water, and the blood." % And John says that the Lord 
will come, "who will baptize in the Holy Ghost, and in 
fire."** * And referring to the one Holy Catholic Church, the 
apostle declares that there is but " one Lord, one faith, and 
one baptism.'''' ft 

* Matt. iii. 15 ; xxviii. 19, 20 f John iii. 5. 

X Mark xiv. 14. § Acts ii. 38. 

Ij Ephes. V. 26. t 1 John v. 8. 

»* Matt iii. 2. ft Eph. iv. 5. 



80 



CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 



Not only is the sacrament of baptism positively enjoined 
on us as essential to salvation, but our Saviour, His holy apos- 
tles, and the Fathers of the Church have always taught that 
it confers grace upon the vv^orthy receiver. Through this 
ceremony we openly enlist into the amiy of the King of 
kings, and promise to subject ourselves to the discipline and 
the duties prescribed by the divine law ; and to enable us to 
accomplish these requirements, divine grace is undoubtedly 
given us at the moment of baptism. 

During the act of purification by water, we profess re- 
pentance for our past sins, and humbly promise, with the di- 
vine aid, to abstain from sin in the future. We promise to 
renounce " the devil with all his works and pomps," and to 
lead such a life as shall be pleasing in the sight of God. To 
ftdfil this task, so difficult to sinful and carnal man, we re- 
ceive with the sacrament special blessings from on high. 

But, respond certain Protestants, this application of water 
can be of no earthly consequence ; for we can repent, and 
"renounce the devil and all his works and pomps," per- 
fectly well without it. It is the heart, the conscience, the 
intention to be good, and not the mummery of applying 
water to the person, which is essential ; and therefore the 
performance of the sacrament may be omitted or not as con- 
venience shall dictate. 

But God has said, " Though this w^orld shall pass away, 
yet not one jot or tittle of My word shall pass away." It 
will be well for the impious protester to remember this 
text when attempting to substitute his personal and human 
ideas for the explicit commands of Christ. 

"With heart-felt pleasure, however, we record the fact that 
a very small number of Protestants do regard baptism as a 
divinely instituted sacrament, w^hich confers special bless- 
ings upon v/orthy recipients, which aids them in resisting 
temptations and sin, and which is essential to their present 
and future welfare and happiness. 

All of those who entertain this opinion still stand on the 
Roman Catholic platform, and avail themselves of one of 



BAPTISM. 81 

the meaDS of grace which enables the Christian to obey the 
commands of God. 

Faith in and the proper performance of the sacrament of 
baptism accomplishes three important ends, viz. : 

1. Obedience to the express commands of our Saviour. 

2. It establishes, strengthens, and confirms us in the true 
faith as taught by Christ, His apostles, and their successors. 

3. It endows the Christian with special graces from above, 
which enable him to resist more effectually the temptations 
which surround him, and keep in subjection those worldly 
and carnal propensities which would otherwise lead him on 
to final perdition. 

Woe to those unbelievers who disregard this sacrament ! 
Woe to those pretended reformers who presume to misinter- 
pret, alter, and reform the specific and imperative commands 
of the Redeemer! Woe to those "false teachers," those 
" seekers after strange doctrines," who affect to comprehend 
the intentions and designs of the Ahnighty, and who, with 
imj)ious temerity, pervert His plain injunctions, and adapt 
them to the convenience, the caprice, or the philosophy of 
finite human reason ! 

To those Protestants who assent to the three divisions 
of the Catholic religion already alluded to, and who believe 
in and practise the sacrament of baptism, we tender our 
congratulations, and assure them that they are almost Cath- 
olics. A belief in and a practice of a few more grace-con- 
ferring sacraments instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
their conversion will be fully accomplished. And the addi- 
tional means of grace — these Heaven-bestowed auxiliaries of 
Christian faith and practice, are by no means so difiacult of 
belief, as other points concerning which they entertain no 
doubt, like the conception and birth of our Saviour and his 
miracles. 

4* 



CHAPTER VI. 

DOCTKINES TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. 



Confirmation. 

A PEETJSAL of the New Testament will demonstrate the 
fact that Christ and His apostles regarded the sacrament of 
confirmation as an essential element of Christianity. By 
nature man is weak, worldly, and skeptical. Without aid 
from above he doubts, he vacillates, he loses courage, he 
falls. Even the apostles, when the climax of the persecutions 
of our Saviour was near at hand, doubted, wavered, some fled 
and concealed themselves, and some denied Him openly for 
the moment ; but the influence of the Holy Spirit soon came 
upon them at Pentecost, to confirm them and sustain them in 
the faith and practice of the ministry. Having received this 
divine gift directly from God Himself, they recognized and 
appreciated the wonderful influence it exercised over them, 
and ever afterward called down from above the same heavenly 
influence upon the professed believers in Christ and His 
teachings. 

During the performance of this sacrament, the recipient 
again reviews his past life, repents of his sins, confirms his 
faith, and receives through the bishop renewed graces and 
blessings from Heaven. 

The Scriptures contain many passages which prove that 
it was customary with Christ and His apostles to confirm their 
new converts by calling down upon them the direct influence 



CONFIEMATIOK. 



83 



of the Holy Spirit. This divine ceremony strengthened their 
faith, gave them courage and ability to resist temptation, and 
to fight manfully the battles of the Cross. Thus, when Peter 
and John were sent to the people of Samaria, " who had re- 
ceived the word of God, and had been baptized only, they 
prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost : 
for as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they were 
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid tliey their 
hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost, And 
when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' 
hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money."* 

Was this ceremony of Peter and John a useless and idle 
one ? Did they pray for these newly-converted and newly- 
baptized people of Samaria, and then lay their hands upon 
them simply for display or ostentation, or to call down upon 
them the Holy Spirit, so that they should be confirmed and 
strengthened in their faith ? 

"And Judas and Silas being prophets also themselves, 
exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed 

themr f 

Why did these prophets of God confirm these brethren 

if the ceremony is a useless one? 

" When they heard this they were baptized in the name 
of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon 
them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they sxyake loith 
tongues, and prophesied:' J 

And did St. Paul, too, commit an idle act when he laid 
his hands upon these people, drew upon them the Holy 
Ghost, and enabled them to speak in strange tongues and to 

prophesy ? 

After His resurrection Christ appeared to His apostles 
and said to them : " Peace be to you. As the Father hath 
sent Me, I also send you. When He had said this. He breathed 
on them; and He said to them: Keceive ye the Holy Ghost; 
whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and 
whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." § 
. * Acta viii. 15-18. f Acts xv. 32. % Acts six. 5, 6. § John xx. 21-23. 



84 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

In this instance Christ called down the Holy Sj^irit upon 
His apostles by the act of breathing upon them ; but, as in 
the examples of the apostles already alluded to, special graces 
and powers were conferred upon the recipients by this spirit- 
ual infusion. What was the object of our Saviour in thus 
" breathing upon His apostles ? " Was it not to confirm 
their faith and to sustain them in their trying duties as His 
ministers? At the day of Pentecost why did Christ send 
down the Holy Spirit upon the discijDles ? Was it not to 
confirm their faith, their courage, their resolution, to teach 
them all truth, and to guide and support them after their 
Redeemer and Master had left them ? So when Peter, Paul, 
John, James, Silas, Judas, and the other disciples prayed 
over and laid their hands upon the recent converts with 
whom they came in contact, did they not call down upon 
them the same Holy Spirit and the same blessed influence ? 
Jesus Christ was their exemplar, as He and they are our 
exemplars. The sacrament was instituted by Christ Himself, 
was recognized and practised by all of His apostles, and was 
transmitted by them to their successors through the Church. 

Is it probable that Christ, and the ministers of His religion, 
who had derived their inspiration directly from Himself, would 
have practised this sacred observance unless its holiness and 
efficacy had been undoubted ? Christ became incarnate on 
earth to teach His sacred truths, and to demonstrate practi- 
cally in His own Person the perfection of human life. In 
obeying the commands and in imitating the example and 
practices of the Saviour, the apostles knew that they were 
acting rightly. In the same spirit, the Church has ever fol- 
lowed in the footsteps of Christ and the apostles, with a per- 
fect knowledge that a practical recognition and imitation of 
their doctrines and practices would secure the welfare of 
Christ's kingdom on earth. Therefore, in allusion to this 
ceremony, one of the canons of the Council of Trent says : 
" If any one saith that the confirmation of those who have 
been baptized is an idle ceremony, and not rather a true and 
proper sacrament ; or, that of old it was nothing more than a 



CONFIKMATION. 



85 



kind of catechism, whereby they who were near adolescence 
gave an account of their faith in the face of the Church ; let 
him be anathema." 

The Catholic Church regards confirmation as an important 
means of grace. She believes that the Holy Spirit— the 
Spirit of truth, love, and mercy — still interests Himself in be- 
half of mortals, and still comes down at the invocation of the 
bishop to influence and to bless the children of men, as He 
did in the days of the apostles. As guardian of the Church 
it is supposed that He confers special graces and blessings 
upon those who obey the commands of Christ, and imitate 
His examples and those of His apostles. 

Whatever may be thought of the necessity of confirma- 
tion, surely no reasonable man can object to the prayers of a 
bishop over the newly-baptized converts, and his invocations 
of the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit, with a view 
of confirming their faith and endowing them with strength to 
wrestle with the enemies of their salvation. If these solemn 
prayers and petitions for help bring forth no good results, 
they cannot surely be productive of injury. 



CHAPTEE YII. 

DOCTKINES TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. 



The Eucharist. 

Near the termination of Christ's mission of love and 
mercy on earth, He instituted what is termed the Lord's Sup- 
per. He had already informed His disciples that He was 
about to be betrayed into the hands of His enemies, to be in- 
sulted, beaten, and crucified ; that He should rise again from 
death, and show Himself to them for a few days, and then 
ascend into heaven, from whence He had come; that He 
Avould send down upon them the Holy Ghost, to teach them 
all truth, to confirm them in the faith, to support them in 
the midst of their perilous duties, and to preside forever over 
the Church He had founded. 

In order to commemorate His divine mission. His passion 
and crucifixion, and to leave behind Him a divine token of 
His love and mercy, He established a perpetual sacrament, 
at which He promised to be always present in person under 
the appearance of bread and wine. He prescribed the form 
and mode of the sacrament, and, as He had repeatedly done 
before, personally performed a miracle before their eyes, by 
converting the bread and wine into His actual body and 
blood, thus inaugurating the divine institution. He entered 
into no explanation as to the rationale of the miracle, but 
simply asserted the fact that He had accomplished it, and 
demanded, as He had on numerous similar occasions, their 



THE ErCHARIST. 



87 



absolute faith. He also commanded them to perpetuate this 
sacrament in remembrance of Him. " Do this in remembrance 
of Me ; " and, says the apostle, " as often as you shall eat this 
bread, and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the 
Lord until He come ; " * and " he that eateth My flesh and 
drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him ;" f and " he 
that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me; "J and 
" the bread that I will give is My flesh, for the life of the 
world ; " § but they who partake unworthily, " not discern- 
ing the body and blood of the Lord, eat and drink judgments 
to themselves." || 

After Christ had blessed and broken the bread, and poured 
and blessed the wine, and declared them to be His actual 
body and blood, the apostles still saw 07%ly bread and wine; 
but they knew that God could not lie or deceive, that He 
was omnipotent, and that He could be present under these 
apparently unchanged elements as easily as He could be in 
heaven and earth at the same time, and their faith wavered 
not. Many of the disciples had seen the Holy Spirit under 
the forms of doves, forked tongues, and other material 
shapes, but not one of them doubted that these objects were 
difierent manifestations of the Holy Ghost. They could not 
understand how or for what reason He came under these 
forms ; but the divine declaration was explicit, and they had 
perfect faith. Moses and the Israelites could not compre- 
hend how God could be present in the cloudy pillar by day, 
and the fiery pillar by night, and thus walk before them as 
their guide in their wanderings from Egypt to the land of 
Canaan ; but they knew He was there, although they saw 
only two apparently inanimate pillars. 

Every one concedes that God is omnipotent — that He 
pervades all things in heaven and on earth, and that He 
holds the universe, which He created from chaos, in the palm 
of His hand, a mere bubble of the illimitable ocean of His 
infinitude ; and yet, when He professes to manifest His pres- 

* 1 Cor. xi. 26. f Jolin vi. 57. % John vi. 58. 

§ John vi. 52. | 1 Cor. xi. 28, 29. 



88 CHEISTIAKITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

ence especially, and for a signal purpose, human reason cavils 
at the idea. The real presence of Christ in the sacrament 
of the Eucharist is no more wonderful than was the real 
presence of God in the cloudy pillars, and the fires of Sinai, 
or the real presence of the Holy Ghost in the cloven tongues 
at the day of Pentecost, or in the bodily shape of a dove at 
the baptism of Christ. 

The Council of Trent teaches that " the Eucharist was 
instituted by our Lord for two great purposes : to be the ce- 
lestial food of the soul, preserving and supporting spiritual 
life, and to give to the Church a perpetual sacrifice, by which 
sin may be expiated ; and our heavenly Father, whom our 
crimes have often grievously offended, may be turned from 
wrath to mercy, from the severity of just vengeance to the 
exercise of benignant clemency." 

" The difference between the Eucharist as a sacrament and 
sacrifice is very great, and is twofold. As a sacrament, it is 
perfected by consecration ; as a sacrifice, all its efficacy con- 
sists in its oblation." * 

As a sacrament, it brings the v>^orthy partaker into closer 
relations with God, imparts graces and blessings to the soul, 
subdues evil propensities, desires, and thoughts, and enables 
him to resist without difficulty the temptations of the world, 
the flesh, and the devil. 

As a sacrifice it renders honor and glory to God, com- 
memorates the passion and death of our Saviour, recalls con- 
tinually the obligations due from mortals to a Redeemer, 
v/ho left his throne of glory to suffer every insult, every in- 
dignity, and even death itself to atone for the sins of men, 
and propitiates our heavenly Father, and inclines Him to 
mercy and forgiveness. This perpetual sacrifice, which is 
daily offered by the Church, is termed 

T/ie Mass. 

When our Lord instituted this sacrament at His last sup- 
per, He charged the apostles and their successors, " This do 
*■ Council of Trent, p. 174. 



THE EUCHAEIST. 89 

for a commemoration of Me." * At the same time He declared 
Himself " a priest forever, according to the order of Melcliise- 
dech. " t " As often as you shall eat this bread, and drink 
the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until He 
come." X 

In this positive command of our Lord to perpetuate the 
eucharistic sacrifice, an inestimable boon was conferred upon 
mankind. During its celebration Christ Himself is present, 
and confers priceless graces and blessings upon those who 
are worthy. He who said, " My delight is to be with the 
children of men" §— "And if I go and prepare a place for 
you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that 
where I am, there ye may be also," |1 does sanctify and bless 
the sacrifice with His divine presence. 

In the celebration of mass, the priest rehearses all of the 
incidents connected with the passion and death of our blessed 
Redeemer. He depicts vividly His betrayal. His arraign- 
ment before Pilate and Herod, His conviction, the insults, 
the blows, and the tortures inflicted on Him, and His cruel 
death, in order to atone, by this great sacrifice, for the sins 
of men. And these unbloody sacrifices — these holy com- 
memorations — sink deeply into the hearts and consciences of 
those who believe in God ; and bring forth fruits meet for 
repentance and salvation. 

As we have already observed, one of the principal objects 
in the celebration of the mass, is to render homage, honor, 
and glory to God, by perpetual and devout representations 
of the passion and crucifixion of His Son our Lord Jesus 
Christ. The true Christian witnesses these solemn ceremo- 
nies with ever-increasing love and gratitude to Him who 
gave His life a ransom for us. As the different incidents of 
the celebration become developed, the minds of the beholders 
are carried back to Calvary — to the Saviour of the world 
crowned with thorns, and bending under the weight of the 
cross, mocked, spit upon, and scourged, and finally nailed 

* Luke xxii. 19. f Heb. vii. 11. Ps. cix. 4. X 1 ^^r. xi. 26, 

§ Prov. viii. 31. I John xiv. 3. 



90 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

with cruel tortures to the bloody cross, between two male- 
factors. The man who can witness this commemorating 
sacrifice without deep emotion, and fervent gratitude and 
thanksgiving to Jesus of Nazareth, must be cold and heart- 
less indeed. We have often participated in the celebration 
of the mass, both at home and abroad, and we can sincerely 
bear witness to the earnest devotion, and the fervent grati- 
tude, thankfulness, and love, which are almost universally 
manifested by the faithful during the ceremony. 

Does any one object to the frequent representation of the 
passion and death of our Redeemer ? Does any one distrust 
the influences of these holy and touching reminiscences? 
Does any one fear that Christ and His wonderful works can 
be too often brought before him ? Does any one deprecate 
the adoration, the praise, and the glory w^hich are daily 
offered up to God in these sacrifices ? Does any one sup- 
pose that our Lord will regard with disfavor those who ful- 
fil the injunction of " This do, in commemoration of Me " ? 
Can a man do any act which tends to glorify God, without 
a smile from Heaven ? 

Catholics believe, furthermore, when they assist reverent- 
ly and devoutly at these commemorative sacrifices of our 
Saviour, that graces and blessings from above are imparted 
to them. They believe that He who left the Godhead, as- 
sumed mortality, taught, sympathized, suffered, and finally 
died for mankind, still feels an interest in them, still sympa- 
thizes with them, still desires them to believe in Him and 
His mission to earth, and to honor Him as the Son of God 
and the Redeemer of the world, still desires their temporal 
and eternal welfare, and that He still comes to them during 
the celebration of the Eucharist, as He promised to do at the 
feast of the Passover. 

Is this idea of the Catholic world injurious in its tenden- 
cies ? Are men less devout or earnest in their woi'ship, 
when they suppose that Christ honors the sacrament with 
His holy presence ? Are they more inclined to sin, and to 



THE EUCHARIST. 91 

worldly pursuits and pleasures, after assisting at a sacrifice 
so majestic and so holy as this ? 

Probably not one Protestant in a thousand has any just 
idea of what the mass really consists. It is generally sup- 
posed to be some priestly mummery, delivered in Latin, with 
a view to befog, mislead, and subjugate the ignorant and 
superstitious, for the benefit of the Church and her pastors. 
So far as this country is concerned, we are quite confident, 
from much personal observation, that this erroneous idea ob- 
tains almost universally. For the benefit of those misin- 
formed Protestants who desire to know the actual truth re- 
specting this habitual Catholic worship of God, we present 
the following brief outlines of the mass : 

The first part of the mass consists chiefly in praises and 
thanksgiving to God for His inestimable blessings to His 
creatures. While acknowledging the mercy and the power 
of the Almighty, " we praise Him, we bless Him, we adore 
Him, we glorify Him, and give thanks to Him." We praise 
Him with words of love, gratitude, and humility from the 
heart, and in the soul-inspiring tones of music. We bless 
and adore the " Holy Trinity, and the undivided Unity," for 
the infinite mercies He has vouchsafed to us sinners, " for 
having communicated His Spirit to His holy prophets and 
apostles, disclosing to them admirable secrets redounding to 
His glory and our great good," and for " having even vouch- 
safed to speak to us by His only Son, our Saviour Jesus 
Christ, commanding us by a A^oice from heaven to hear 
Him." While praising, blessing, adoring, and glorifying 
God, we humbly acknowledge our absolute and entire de- 
pendence on Him, and pray " that He will mercifully grant 
us the grace to profit by His. divine and heavenly doctrine ;" 
that He " will be our God and our protector; that He will 
grant us all those blessings which may in any way contrib- 
ute to our salvation ; that the Lord will take away from us 
our iniquities, that w^e may be worthy to enter with pure 
minds into the holy of holies, through Christ our Lord ; that 



92" CnEISTlAlTITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

our prayers may be heard and answered, and that our sins 
may be forgiven." 

About one-third of the mass is made up of these acts of 
praise, devotion, and thanksgiving to God. Much of the 
worship is uttered in a dead language in order that the sig- 
nification of every word may be preserved in its original 
purity. As the idioms of colloquial languages are contln- 
ally changing, and as new definitions are being continually 
invented by difierent nations and sections, it would be man- 
ifestly unsafe to trust the sacred truths of God to these 
ever occurring mutations. Spoken languages may be- 
come changed and corrupted, false teachers may introduce ; 
schisms and dissensions in the Church, and even the world i 
may pass away, but not one jot or tittle of God's holy word 
shall in any wise pass away. The Latin is a dead language, 
and therefore fixed and immutable. For this reason the 
fathers of the Church have adopted it as the medium for per- 
petuating the truths of Christianity in their original purity, 
to the end of the world. But every missal — every hand- 
book of the mass, has its literal translation opposite the Latin 
text ; so that all who run may read and understand what the 
priest and the choir are uttering. 

Does any one object to this praise and glory to God ? 
Does any one object to this adoration of the Most High, and 
to these humble acknowledgments and prostrations before 
His Infinite Majesty ? Does any one doubt that these praises, 
these adorations, and these tokens of love and devotion justly 
belong to the Almighty ? We pity the arrogant and fool- 
hardy man who begrudges his Maker this worship. 

Another portion of the mass is composed of professions 
of faith in God, in the Trinity, in the incarnation, in the 
atonement, in the crucifixion, in the resurrection, in the as- 
cension, and in the doctrines and works of our Saviour while 
on earth. During this part of the mass, the worshipper again 
humbly acknowledges his dependence on the Lord, openly 
proclaims his faith, confesses his sins, and prays for the di- 
vine grace and pardon. LLe not only prays for himself, but 



THE EUCHAEIST. 



93 



he implores his pastor, and the saints and angels in heaven 
" who rejoice over one sinner that repenteth," to pray for 
him. Jn this portion of the service is inckided the Apos- 
tles' Creed. 

Are these open professions of faith objectionable ? Are 
these confessions of sins, these acts of contrition, and these 
prayers for forgiveness to be deprecated ? Christ and His 
disciples ever attached the highest importance to faith, re- 
pentance, confession, and reformation; and almost every 
chapter in the Holy Scripture contains allusions to them. 
Shall modern Christians be prohibited from doing those very 
things which were expressly commanded by our Saviour ? 

The last portion of the mass consists in offering up on the 
altar the body and blood of Christ under the form of bread 
and wine, in commemoration of His passion and death. This 
is a mystery quite incomprehensible to mortals, but in ac- 
cordance with the positive commands and promises of our 
Lord Jesus Christ at the last supper. " Jesus took bread, 
and giving thanks to God, blessed and brake, and gave to 
His disciples, and said. Take ye and eat: this is My body, 
which shall be delivered for you : this do for the commemo- 
ration of Me : and taking the chalice after He had supped. 
He said. This chalice is the IS^ew Testament in My blood : 
this do as often as you shall drink it in commemoration of 
me.* " " As often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the 
chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until He come." f 
" I am the living bread which came down from heaven : if any 
man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread 
that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of 
the w^orld." % 

To those of our day who protest against this idea, as did 
the Jews and Gentiles of Capernaum when it was uttered by 
Christ, saying, " Hov/ can this man give us Sis flesh to eat," 
we quote the response v/hich Jesus gave to the Jews : " Then 
Jesus said unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Except 

* Matt. xxYi. 26. Mark xiv. 22. Luke xxii. 19. | 1 Cor. xi. 26. 
1 John vi. 51. 



94 CIIETSTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drmk His blood, ye 
have no life in you. 

" Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath 
eternal life ; and I will raise hira up at the last day. 

" For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink 
indeed. 

" He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwell- 
eth in Me, and I in him. 

" As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the 
Father ; so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. 

" This is that bread which came down from heaven : not 
as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead ; he that eateth 
of this bread shall live forever." 

" Many therefore of His disciples, when they had heard 
this^ said. This is a hard saying; who can hear it ?" 

"From that time many of His disciples went back, and 
walked no more with Him." * 

Many modern rationalists, like the ancient Jews of Ca- 
pernaum, find ^'this a hard saying," which they "cannot 
bear," and they turn back to human reason, and " walk no 
more with Christ." 

When will the world. learn that faitJi in Christ, and all 
of His words and works, is the prime element of Christian- 
ity ? When will men appreciate the fact, that those things 
which are mysterious and incomprehensible to themselves, 
are clear and simple to the Almighty ? How long shall the 
clay say to the potter. Why have you made me thus or 
thus ? How long shall the finite creatures of earth limit the 
knowledge and power of their Creator to their own puny 
intelligences ? 

When Christ blessed and broke the bread, and gave it to 
His disciples to eat, declaring that He gave them His flesh 
and blood to eat and drink, was He jesting, and was this a 
mere convivial entertainment, or was it really a supper of 
God — a great commemorative sacrifice — a divine legacy, re- 
plete with blessings, which He desired to bequeath to the 

• * John vi. 53-60, 66. 



THE EUCETAEIST. 95 

world as a perpetual memento of His passion and death? 
In commemorating the grand consummation of the new dis- 
pensation, through wbich the whole world was to be con- 
verted from paganism to Christianity, it is not probable that 
He would utter idle or doubtful words, or perform a vague 
and indefinite ceremony, with figurative phrases of doubtful 
signification. 

In the natural sciences, how little is known of the nature 
of the phenomena which are continually occurring before our 
eyes ! I hold in my hand a piece of iron, and I assert that this 
ounce of apparently inert metal contains within its substance 
an enormous quantity of a subtle and imponderable agent of 
vast power; but under almost all changes and circumstances 
inappreciable to the senses of man. By rubbing it with an- 
other piece of magnetized metal, we develop the latent 
magnetism of the first piece,* and this subtle and powerful 
spirit may be made to continue its manifestations almost in- 
definitely. Were this declaration to be made to a multitude 
of savages, they would reject it as absurd, because it is en- 
tirely at variance with their reason and their experience. 
They gauge everything from their own stand-point of knowl- 
edge, and thus found their beliefs and disbeliefs. The more 
cultivated man gauges all things from his more advanced 
stand-point, and even requires that the designs and the 
" ways of the Creatoi^, which are past finding out," shall ac- 
cord with his own human ideas. Let these men contemplate 
the words of St. Chrysostom, who says, " Let us obey, not 
contradict God, although what He says may seem contrary 
to our reason and our sight : His words cannot deceive, our 
senses are easily deceived." 

Is there not danger that modern Protestants are actuated 
by the same spirit of conceit and unbelief as that which 
prompted the unbelieving Jews to doubt and abandon our 
Saviour? These Jews subjected the declarations of the Son 

* It is generally supposed that the magnetic influence is communicated 
from the already magnetized iron to the unmagnetized bar ; but there is no 
proof of this. 



96 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

of God to tlie test of their own finite comprehensions ; and 
as the test failed, they " went back, and walked no more 
with Him." Protestant philosophy employs the same test, 
rejects the literal signification of the plain words of Christ, 
and manufactures a meaning in accordance with its ideas of 
Y/hat our Saviour should have said. 

" Do this for a commemoration of Me." * " For as often 
as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall 
shoio the death of the Lord^ until He come." \ 

" Therefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the 
chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall he guilty of the body 
and the hlood of the Lord^ ... for he that eateth and drink- 
eth unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, 
7iot discerning the hody of the Lord.''^ \ 

Can language be more clear and explicit than this ? Is 
there a scholar living who can express a simple fact with 
^more clearness and less ambiguity than the Son of God has 
expressed the mysterious fact of the conversion of bread and 
wine into His body and blood ? 

Cavillers, who reject this sacrament because they cannot 
understand how the Almighty accomplishes the sacred mys- 
tery, assert that our Saviour was uttering a parable ; and 
that there was some deep and hidden signification in all of 
these positive declarations ! It is true that Jesus often spoke 
in parables ; bnt in all instances He made it apparent that 
He was thus speaking. For example, when He likens Him- 
self to a mne^ and His disciples to the branches^ He tells them 
that He brings forward a parable in order to illustrate His 
meaning more clearly. So in all other instances where He 
likens Himself or His disciples to animate or inanimate ob- 
jects, He renders it apparent that a parable is intended. 

But in the institution of the Eucharist, our blessed Lord 
uttered no parable, presented no ambiguous problem, or en- 
deavored in any way to mystify His apostles. These utter- 
ances were among His last words on earth — delivered only a 
few hours before His crucifixion, when He was depressed and 

* Luke xxii. 19. f 1 Cor. xi. 26. % 1 Cor. xi. 28, 29. 



THE EUCHAEIST. 97 

sorrowing for those beloved ones who had been His associates 
in spreading His doctrines, and whom He was about to leave 
alone in an unbelieving world. At such a moment, is it 
strange that He should do a Godlike act, and leave behind 
Him an aid so potent as this blessed sacrament? Or is it 
probable that He would express Himself to His chosen minis- 
ters in doubtful language ? 

It pleased our Redeemer to leave behind Him a glorious 
memento of His mission on earth — a gift such as only God 
Himself could bestow — a miraculous manifestation of Him- 
self under the form of bread and wine, whenever the com- 
memorating sacrament should be offered. At the passover, 
the miraculous conversion of bread and v/ine into body and 
blood was as real as was the conversion of water into wine 
at the marriage-feast at Cana of Galilee. Both acts were 
supernatural, and both were performed to demonstrate the 
power of our Lord to unbelievers. During the passover 
Jesus assured His apostles that in the future He would con- 
tinue to manifest Himself in the same manner whenever the 
commemorating ceremony should be performed. "Whoso 
eateth My flesh, and drinketh 3£y blood, hath eternal life, 
and I will raise him up at the last day." "^ 

The difference between Catholics and other sects respect- 
ing the Eucharist consists simply in this : the former have 
entire faith that Christ meant precisely what He uttered, and 
that He actually produces the mysterious conversion when- 
ever the sacrifice is offered ; while the latter doubt the power 
of the Almighty to effect the change, and therefore pervert 
the words of God so as to accord with their human phi- 
losophy. 

The apostles had faith in every thing that Jesus declared 
or performed, and in repeated instances were commended 
for it. Unquestioning, confiding, absolute faith in Christ 
and His teachings and works was always earnestly incul- 
cated by our Saviour when on earth, and he promised special 
blessings to those who manifested such faith. He did not 
* John vi. 55. 



98 CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

regard with favor cavillers, protesters, and doubters of His 
divine mission and of His miraculous powers and deeds. 
This duty of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in all of 
His teachings and acts, constitutes a prime element of the 
Catholic Church, as it did with the chosen twelve. How- 
ever contrary to natural laws, or to human reason the subject 
may appear, the declarations of Christ are the only standard 
of faith with the Catholic Christian. He cannot compre- 
hend the mysteries of the conception and incarnation of our 
Saviour, of the Trinity, of the miracles, of the real presence 
of the Holy Ghost under the forms of a dove and forked 
tongues, or of the real presence of Christ under the form of 
the consecrated bread and wine, but he has entire faith in 
them all, because our Lord has declared and decreed them to 
be so. This is the kind of faith which was so highly es- 
teemed by Jesus, and which leads unerringly to salvation. 

Again we observe, that the Church instituted by Christ 
and the Catholic Church are in perfect accord. 



CHAPTEE YIII. 

DOCTRINES TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. 



Orders. 



Throughout tlie ISTew Testament we find frequent alla- 
sions to the important institution of the priesthood. As 
agents and representatives of Christ on earth, as " ambassa- 
dors" of the eternal court of heaven to the erring subjects 
of earth, as the only authorized teachers and dispensers of 
the laws and ordinances of the gospel, the pastors of the 
Church were ordained and organized by our Saviour and His 
apostles through the solemn sacrament of " Orders." Exam- 
ples of the performance of this sacrament by Jesus and His 
disciples are so numerous in the Scriptures, and the absolute 
necessity for ordained ministers of religion is so apparent, 
that no extended remarks upon the subject are required. In 
a trust of so much magnitude as that of minister of God, we 
take it for granted that every right-minded man will appreci- 
ate the dignity, the sacredness, and the responsibilities of the 
office, and that he will frown upon those who lightly assume 
the position, or who in any way detract from its sacredness 
or its dignity. When temporal rulers are appointed to office, 
certain solemn and imposing forms and ceremonies are al- 
ways observed as tokens of respect, and as pledges of faith- 
fulness in the performance of the trusts reposed in them. 
ISTo one attempts to ridicule or to belittle these secular ordi- 



100 CHEISTIAKITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

nations to offices of power and trust, wWcli regard the mate- 
rial welfare of men ; and those who have especial charge of 
the spiritual and eternal welfare of men should not be less 
honored on their induction into the ministry of the living 
God. There is no danger of impressing the solemn duties of 
the priestly office too strongly upon the faithful, or of show- 
ing too much respect to the representatives and ambassadors 
of the Most High, or to their sacred office. We should not 
begrudge to the officers and servants of the Almighty those 
marks of respect and honor which we cheerfully bestow upon 
temporal governors. 

Christ Himself established the priesthood of the new dis- 
pensation, after the order of Melchisedec, and from that 
time to the present the Church has followed in His footsteps. 
Christ was sent by the Father,* the apostles by Christ, \ 
and the disciples since the days of the apostles by their law- 
ful successors and representatives, " for the perfecting of the 
'saints, for the work of the ministry, and the edification of 
the body of Christ." J "As the Father hath sent Me, I also send 
you." § " And the things which thou hast heard of me by 
many witnesses, the same commend to faithful men, who shall 
be fit to teach others also." || " For this I left thee in Crete, 
.... that thou shouldst ordain priests in every city, as I also 
appointed thee." ^ After Paul had ordained Timothy and Ti- 
tus and directed them to ordain others, he charged Timothy 
as follows : " Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that 
thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting 
on of my hands." ** 

The following texts show us how God regards those who 
unlawfully take upon themselves the sacred responsibilities 
of the priesthood : " ^or let any one take this honor to him- 
self, but he that is called by God as Aaron was. " ft " How 
shall they preach, unless they be sent ? " H " There shall 
be among you lying teachers, who shall bring in sects of 

* John viii. 36. f Matt, xxviii. 19. X Ephes. iy. 12. 

§ John XX. 21. I 2 Tim. ii. 2. f Tit. i. 5. 

** 2 Tim. i. 6. |f Heb. v. 4. XX ^^^' ^- ^^.' 



OEDEES. 101 

perdition bringing upon themselves swift destruction." * 

" They are blind, and leaders of the blind ; and if the blind 
lead the blind, both fall into the pit." f " Beware of false proph- 
ets, Avho come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they 
are ravening wolves." X Behold the attempts of King Ozias, 
of Core, Dathan, Abiron, and the numerous other- self-con- 
stituted priests, to offer incense unlawfully, and the terrible 
punishment which was inflicted upon them and their people 
by the Lord ! " I sent not the prophets, yet they ran ; I 
have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." § " They have 
not entered into the sheepfold by the door, but have climbed 
up another way." || " Neglect not the grace that is in thee, 
which was given thee by prophecy, with imposition of the 
hands of the priesthood." ^ " And He gave some apostles, and 
other some pastors and doctors; for the perfecting of the 
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body 
of Christ, until we all meet into the unity of faith. . . that hence- 
forth w^e be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried 
about with every wind of doctrine." ^^ " Remember your pre- 
lates, who have spoken the v/ord of God to you ; whose faith 
follow." tt " For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, 
and they shall seek the law at his mouth ; because he is the 
angel of the Lord of hosts." H " No prophecy of Scripture is 
of private interpretation ;" §§ and " He that heareth you (the 
ministers and apostles of Christ) heareth Me ;" |||| and " if he 
will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen 
and the publican." ^% " Let every soul be subject to higher 
powers ; for there is no pov/er but from God ; and those that 
are, are ordained of God; and they that resist, purchase to 
themselves damnation." *** And " Obey your prelates, and be 
subject to them ; for they watch, as being to render an ac- 
count of your souls," f f f and " We bei7ig -many, are one body 
in Christ," III and "There shall be one fold, and one shep- 

* 2 Pet. ii. 1. f Matt. xvi. 14. :|: Matt. vii. 15. 

§ Jer. xxiii. 21. \ John x. 1. ^ 1 Tim. iv. 14. 

** Eph. iv. 11-14. ft Heb. xviii. 1, 11. %% ^al ii. '7. 

§§ 2 Pet. i. 20. II II Luke x. 16. *f[t Matt, xviii. lY. 

«** Eom. xiii. 1, 2. f f f Heb. xiii. IT. XXX Rom. xii. 5. 



102 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

herd," * and " The Holy Ghost hath appointed you bishops 
to rule the Church of God." f 

From these extracts it is evident that Christ committed 
His Church, together with its sacred doctrines and observ- 
ances, to the special keeping and guardianship of bishops, 
priests, and pastors. He required that they should watch 
over and preserve the integrity and unity of the Church, by 
holding fast to the sacred interpretations of Holy Writ left by 
the apostles and their successors ; and He enjoined upon lay- 
men the duty of " receiving knowledge, and the divine laws, 
from the lips of the priests," assuring them that if they list- 
ened to them they also listened to Him^ and if they obeyed 
them they obeyed the angels of the Lord of hosts. 

These citations from Holy Writ demonstrate conclusively 
the divine origin of the sacramental institution of the priest- 
hood, and the high importance which was attached to its 
legitimate observance. The utility and propriety of the sac- 
rament is likewise tacitly conceded in the universal custom 
of mankind to inaugurate and ordain their secular rulers by 
imposing forms, ceremonies, and oaths of office. 

As in all other matters pertaining to religion, the Cath- 
olic Church has followed literally the teachings and prac- 
tice of Christ and His apostles, respecting the sacrament of 
orders. The Church has entire faith that the proper per- 
formance of the sacrament brings down upon the recipient 
the grace of God. 

Again do we behold the Catholic Church faithful to the 
precepts and practices of the Divine Master, in perjjetuating 
the sacrament of orders. 

* John X. 16. f Acts xx. 28. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

DOCTRINES TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. 



Matrimony. 

Probably no measure could have been devised "better cal- 
culated to promote the spiritual and temporal happiness of 
man than the sacrament of marriage. In whatever light we 
view it, the wisdom and love of our Lord will be apparent. 
The direct and legitimate tendencies of marriage when re- 
garded as a sacred and permanent obligation are as follows : 
1. It enables us to avoid and to resist the innumerable 
temptations connected with the passions and lusts of men. 
By far the greatest and most common incentives to sin are 
the desires of the flesh ; and we verily believe that a vast 
majority of those who, at the day of judgment, will be ranked 
among the " lost sheep," will owe their fall to unlawful sexual 
indulgences. In the institution of marriage we have a refuge 
and safeguard against the dangers of tempestuous passion ; 
and grace from above, which easily enables us to fulfil all of 
its obligations and duties. The apostle prescribes marriage 
for the express purpose of enabling men to resist their licen- 
tious propensities. Thus, " for fear of fornication let every 
man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own 
husband." And after continence for purposes of prayer and 
fasting, they are advised "to come together again lest Satan 
tempt them for their incontinency." * 
* 1 Cor. vii. 2. 



104 CIIEISTIAInITY AIS^D ITS CONFLICTS. 

2. The tender ties between parents and children, and the 
instinctive desire of parents to promote the welfare and hap- 
piness of their children and families by good examples, by 
achieving distinction, honorable positions, and respectability, 
operate with tremendous power in favor of morality and 
virtue. Even when parents are so wicked as to violate their 
marriage vows, parental affection still prompts them to de- 
nounce the sin to their children, and to train them up in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord. 

To what a depth of degradation and wretchedness would 
poor human nature sink were it not for the divine institution 
of marriage ! What mountains of grievous sin would over- 
whelm erring mortals, deprived of the checks and the re- 
straints of matrimony ! How wise and mereiful in our blessed 
Lord to exalt the union of man and wife to the dignity of a 
sacrament ! 

3. This sacrament endows the husband and wife with 
grace, and thus enables them easily to resist all sensual 
temptations, and to confide in and love each other until 
death. 

The sacramental character of matrimony is proven from 
the following passages of Scripture : 

The union of Adam and Eve was effected by God, thus : 
" And the Lord God said. It is not good that the man should 
be alone ; I will make him a help meet for him." * " And the 
Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he 
slept ; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in- 
stead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken 
from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. 
And Adam said. This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of 
my flesh : she shall be called woman, because she v/as taken 
out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his 
mother, and shall cleave unto his wife : and they shall be one 
flesh." t 

" Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What 

* Gen. ii. 18. .j. Gen. ii. 21-24. 



MATRIMONY. 105 

therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asun- 
der."* 

" Husbands should love theu^ wives, as their own bodies : 
he who loveth his wife, loveth himself, for no one ever hated 
his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ 
doth the Church, for we are members of His body, of His 
flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his 
father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall 
be two in one flesh. This is a great sacrament, but I sj)eak 
in Christ, and in the Church." f 

" Whoever shall put away his wife, and shall marry an- 
other, doth commit adultery, and he that shall marry her 
that is put away, committeth adultery." J 

" A woman is bound by the law, as long as her husband 
liveth ; but if her husband die, she is at liberty : let her marry 

whom she will, only in the Lord To them that are 

married, not I, but the Lord commandeth, that the wife de- 
part not from her husband, and if she depart, that she remain 
unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband." § 

The divine origin of this sacrament is so manifest, as to 
render any further discussion of the subject unnecessary. The 
Catholic Church has simply retained and perpetuated it pre- 
cisely as it was instituted by God the Father in the begin- 
ning, and confirmed afterward by our Lord Jesus Christ. 

In alluding to the influence of the sacrament of marriage 
in elevating woman to her true position, Allies thus writes : 
"The state of marriage alone gave to Christian parents an 
infinitely higher knowledge concerning this [the meaning of 
life with reference to this life and the world to come], than 
the wisest and best among them [the Romans of the Augus- 
tan age] possessed. For the mother, however poor and ig- 
norant she might be, knew that the children she was bring- 
ing into the world would not only belong by birth to an 
earthly state, but were to be made citizens of an eternal 
kingdom. She possessed, and would communicate a definite 
■ knowledge of this, of which Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero, had 
* Matt. xix. 6. f Eph. v. 28. X ^^tt. xix. 9. § 1 Cor. vii. 39. 



106 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

not dreamed in tlieir highest flights Even Horace, the 

most elegant of poets, the bosom friend of Maecenas and 
Augustus, free from all taint of avarice and meanness, and 
beloved by his friends, "vvas, in his own words, ' a hog of the 
herd of Epicurus.' He has bequeathed to posterity his specific 
disbelief in Providence on God's side, responsibility on man's ; 
for him the gods ' lie beside their nectar, careless of man- 
kind.'"* 

* " The Formation of Christendom," p. 322. 



CHAPTER X. 

DOCTRINES TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. 



Extreme Unction. 

"Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the 
priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing 
him with oil, in the name of the Lord ; and the prayer of 
faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him 
up ; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him." * 

Was this injunction of the inspired apostle idle and 
meaningless? Are we to believe that the "bringing in the 
priests of the Church" to the sick man, "their prayers over 
him," and " their anointings with oil," were pedantic displays, 
and priestly mummeries, unaccompanied by any divine bless- 
ings? Was it customary for the chosen apostles of Christ 
to inculcate or to practise vain ceremonies, and thus to mock 
the world, instead of presenting themselves as examples for 
imitation ? Were these holy men inspired by God to preach 
and practise one thing, while those who came after them 
were to ignore it, and teach and practise another thing ? 

When our Saviour dispersed His disciples among the 
nations to preach His word, Mark informs us that, " Going 
forth, they preached that all should do penance ; and they 
cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many loho were 
sicJc^ and healed themy\ 

* James v. 14, 15. t ^ark vi. 12, 13. 



108 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Was it a useless thing for the disciples to preach repent- 
ance to these nations, and to anoint their sick with oil in the 
name of the Lord? Were not all of the commands and ordi- 
nances of Christ and the apostles intended for our instruction 
and imitation ? 

If there is ever a period when a -man needs the prayers 
and consolations of his spiritual adviser, and grace from 
above, it is Avhen he is dangerously sick, and near to death. 
However strongly fortified he may be in his religious faith, 
and from the contemplation of a well-spent life, he instinc- 
tively regards with more or less awe and dread the approach 
of dissolution. He knows that he is to be severed forever 
from all of the ties of earth, from those he has loved and 
cherished in his inmost heart, from associations and attach- 
ments of a lifetime, and to enter alone an unknown country, 
and a spiritual existence which is to continue forever. At 
such a time, with body and mind enfeebled by disease and 
suffering, the consolations of religion are especially needful. 
At such a time, doubts, fears, and distractions are apt to take 
possession of the mind, and to divert it from those holy aspi- 
rations, and that abiding faith, which every Christian should 
have in the hour of death. 

In view of these facts, God in His great mercy has insti- 
tuted " the sacrament for the dying," and inspired St. James 
to declare to us the mode of performing it in the passage 
first quoted. How merciful in the infinite Creator to remem- 
ber us in our physical and mental weaknesses, and to author- 
ize " the priests of the Church to be brought in when we 
are grievously sick, to pray for us, and to anoint us with oil 
in the name of the Lord " ! That these prayers, these anoint- 
ings, and these acts of faith and devotion on the part of the 
priests are efi&cacious for the spiritual welfare of the sick, 
and sometimes also for their physical restoration, who can 
doubt ? When we reflect upon the numerous marvellous 
conversions and cures effected by Jesus and His disciples 
through faith, prayers, and anointings, we may readily un- 
derstand how the faith, the prayers, and the anointings of 



EXTREME UNCTION. 109 

the priests of the Church may still redound to the spiritual 
and bodily benefit of the sick and dying. 

The fathers of Tr^nt teach that in this, as well as in all of 
the other sacraments, the priests, of the Church are merely the 
representatives and agents of Christ on earth ; and in obey- 
ing these commands, that they bring down the direct and 
special influences of the Holy Spirit to bless and sustain the 
true believer. And our own hearts will tell us that the in- 
fluences thus evoked cannot be otherwise than good. 



CHAPTER XI. 

DOCTEINES TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. 



The Ten Commandments. 

Fkom the midst of the fires of Sinai God delivered the 
Ten Commandments to Moses and his people. In them He 
forbids falsehood, slander, avarice, covetousness, theft, mur- 
der, licentiousness. Sabbath-breaking, idolatry, taking God's 
name in vain, and disrespect to parents, as heinous sins 
against God and man. By the direct interposition of the 
Almighty, the Israelites had been rescued from Egyptian 
bondage, through a series of miracles, like the changing of 
rods into serpents, rivers into blood, and the other plagues of 
Egypt. In pillars of cloud and fire, God had conducted them 
to the Red Sea, pursued by Pharaoh and his inimical hosts, 
had separated the waters so that they could pass over on dry 
land, and afterward overwhelmed the pursuing Egyptians. 
On arriving at the foot of Sinai, where they had been mirac- 
ulously led, God vouchsafed to speak to them His divine 
commandments, so that their moral, social, and religious con- 
dition might be elevated, and themselves rendered better 
and happier. For a time these positive commands were 
heeded; but, ere long, superstition and the desires of the 
flesh turned the people of Israel to strange gods and strange 
practices. Often did they forget their sacred laws, and lapse 



THE TEJJ^ COMMANDMENTS. Ill 

into idolatry ; and repeatedly were they brought back again 
by Moses and other prophets. After the lapse of many cen- 
turies, at the period of the birth of Christ, there were but 
few of the descendants of Abraham on the face of the earth, 
who held and practised the commandments and the laws as 
they had been delivered to Moses. ISTearly the entire civil- 
ized world had fallen into paganism, materialism, polythe- 
ism, or absolute skepticism. 

Under such circumstances, God became incarnate in 
Christ on earth, in order to give to mankind a new dis- 
pensation, to show them the true God, the Trinity, the 
nature and destiny of the human soul, and, among other 
duties and injunctions, to reassert the perpetual obligation of 
the Ten Commandments, St. Paul and other apostles like- 
wise enumerate these commandments as fundamental princi- 
ples of a Christian life. By themselves, they constitute an 
excellent moral and social code ; and, in a worldly point of 
view, are most admirably adapted to the wants and require- 
ments of society. They inculcate supreme respect and love 
of God, and a just regard for all the rights of men. To those 
who obey these commandments, the answer of our Saviour 
to the questioning Scribe is not inappropriate: "Thou art 
not far from the kingdom of heaven." A sublime condensa- 
tion of these Ten Commandments may be found in the reply 
of Jesus to the Scribe, who had asked Him " Which is the 
first commandment of all? " " The first of all the command- 
ments is, the Lord our God is one Lord : and thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength : this is the 
first commandment. And the second is U7ce, namely this, 
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none 
other commandment greater than these." * " On these two 
commandments," He says in Matthew, " hang all the law and 
the prophets." " Therefore," He says in another place, " all 
things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, 

* Mark xii. 30, 31. 



112 CIIEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

do you even so to them : for this is the law and the proph- 
ets." * 

These Ten Commandments constitute one of the four fun- 
damental divisions of the Koman Catholic Church, and we 
call attention to them in this connection as an essential por- 
tion of the Christian system. 

* Matt. vii. 12. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

DOCTRINES TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. 



The Lord^s Prayer. 

Amoi^g the blessed gifts bestowed by our Redeemer 
upon mankind was a model prayer. This is another of the 
four fundamental divisions of the Catholic Church. For 
sublimity, comprehensiveness, and pertinence to the spir- 
itual and social wants of men, this prayer has no paral- 
lel. It is adapted to all classes and conditions of men, 
directing them properly with regard to their conceptions 
of God, their duties toward their fellow-men, and their 
personal requirements. Such a gift was peculiarly appro- 
priate; for everywhere Christ found the high-priests and 
doctors of the synagogues and temples overwhelmed with 
superstition and idolatry. Their conceptions of God, and of 
the soul, were purely pantheistic and material; and their 
worship consisted of imposing displays, of absurd ceremonies, 
accompanied by repetitions of vain words, tending to per- 
vert and debase the minds of those who saw and heard 
them. He found the higher classes endowed with consider- 
able literary culture, and more or less proficient in matters 
of art and science ; but material, sensual, and superstitious. 
He saw the common people ignorant, degraded, and either 
skeptical, or visionary, or worshippers of false gods. Vast 



114 CHEISTIAOTTY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

numbers had not sufficient knowledge to enable them 
to indite and offer up an intelligent prayer to God; and 
all were so imbued with superstitions, that, without some 
definite and fixed form of prayer, pantheistic materialism 
would, in all probability, have perverted and corrupted the 
'worship of the true God among the newly-converted Chris- 
tians. 

To obviate this danger, and to enable these perverted 
human elements to make their daily addresses properly and 
understandingly to the throne of the Most High, Christ pre- 
sented them with a short and comprehensive prayer, through 
which they could daily recognize and appreciate the one per- 
sonal God the Father, and ask of Him those things which 
were requisite for their temporal and spiritual welfare. In 
every act of devotion they appealed to the one Infinite Crea. 
tor and Father for guidance and protection, and recognized 
the duties of charity, forgiveness, and a virtuous life. 

Like all other acts of Christ on earth, this divine gift to 
mankind indicated supreme wisdom and beneficence. It is a 
perpetual legacy entailed upon the whole world, with a view 
of holding it to a knowledge of God, and of preventing any 
future lapse into idolatry. It is a daily reassertion by all of 
the faithful, that our heavenly Father rules over all things 
in heaven and on earth, and that all blessings are derived only 
from Him. For eighteen hundred years this prayer has daily 
and hourly ascended from millions of devout lips, to the Infi- 
nite Fountain of mercy in heaven, in the same words as Christ 
first uttered them to His disciples. This is one of the few 
divine legacies which has escaped sacrilegious desecration at 
the hands of modern protesters. 

Christ adapted His teachings to all men and to all gener- 
ations. He encompasses the entire religious, moral, intel- 
lectual, and social spheres of life, and displays every thing 
pertaining to truth, goodness, virtue, love, benevolence, 
mercy, and happiness. Although He was God, endowed 
with infinite power. He came among men clothed with a 
human form, sharing their dangers, j)rivations, and pains, 



115 

and quietly communicated to tliem His divine rules and in- 
structions. He gave nothing which was useless or super- 
fluous, nothing except what was to exist unchanged to the 
end of the world. Human maxims and human laws are ever 
subject to change and decay. One generation pulls down 
and destroys what another has reared ; but the doctrines of 
Christ are immutable, and perfectly adapted to every mortal 
want. 

:N'ot withstanding His omnipotence, Christ was ever con- 
descending, moderate, merciful, and consistent in the mission 
He had undertaken. He came not only to teach men their 
duties, but to afford them a perfect example of what He in- 
culcated. Therefore we find Him submitting to insults, 
dangers, privations, and finally tortures and an ignominious 
death, when, by a single effort of His mighty will. He could 
have surrounded Himself with legions of destroying angels, 
who could instantly have ground His enemies to powder. 
But His mission to earth was not for the display of omnipo- 
tent power, but to present words of eternal truth, an exam- 
ple of perfect human life, and then to suffer and die as an 
atonement for the sins of men. 

The precepts and example of Christ were repugnant to 
nearly all of the subjects of Augustus and Tiberius Caesar. 
They were in direct opposition to their philosophies, morals, 
habits, and customs. They imposed stern prohibitions against 
their sensual immoralities, idolatry, cruelties, and injustice 
toward their fellow-creatures. Notwithstanding which, they 
have victoriously withstood the rude shocks of more than 
eighteen hundred years. If at times they have been trampled 
under foot by persecuting emperors like l^ero and Domitian, 
or invading hordes of Goths, Vandals, Huns, Saracens, and 
other enemies, they have always risen again with renewed 
strength and beauty, guarded and preserved by the Holy 
Spirit. As the Lamb of God, singly and unaided, first made 
them known to men, so do they exist now in His Holy Church. 
Can we conceive a greater miracle than this ? Could any 
mere human agency have accomplished this ? The following 



116 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

observations from a recent English work entitled " Ecce 
Homo," are pertinent to this subject : 

" This temperance in the use of supernatural power is the 
masterpiece of Christ. It is a moral miracle superinduced 
upon a physical one. This repose in greatness makes Him' 
surely the most sublime image ever offered to the human im- 
agination. And it is precisely this trait which gave Him His 
immense and immediate ascendency over men. If the ques- 
tion be put — Why was Christ so successful ? Why did men 
gather round Him at His call, form themselves into a new so- 
ciety according to His wish, and accept Him with unbounded 
devotion as their legislator and judge? some will answer, 
'Because of the miracles which attested His divine char- 
acter ; ' others, * Because of the intrinsic beauty and divinity 
of the great law of love which He propounded.' But mira- 
cles, as we have seen, have not by themselves this persuasive 
power. That a man possesses a strange power which I cannot 
understand is no reason why I should receive his words as 
divine oracles of truth. The powerful man is not of necessity 
also wise ; his power may terrify, but not convince. On the 
other hand, the law of love, however divine, was but a pre- 
cept. Undoubtedly it deserved that men should accept it for 
its intrinsic worth, but men are not commonly so eager to 
receive the words of wise men nor so unbounded in their ! 
gratitude to them. It was neither for His miracles nor for 
the beauty of His doctrines that Christ was worshipped. 
Xor was it for His winning personal character, nor for the 
persecutions He endured, nor for His martyrdom. It was for 
the inimitable unity which all these things made when taken 
together. In other words, it was for this, that He whose 
power and greatness as shown in His miracles were over- 
whelming, denied Himself the use of His power, treated it as 
a slight thing, walked among men as though He were one of 
them, relieved them in distress, taught them to love each 
other, bore with undisturbed patience a perpetual hailstorm 
of calumny ; and v/hen His enemies grew fiercer, continued 
still to endure their attacks in silence, until, petrified and be- 



117 

wildered v/ith astonishment, men saw Him arrested and put 
to death with torture, refusing steadfastly to use in His own 
"behalf the power He conceived He held for the benefit of 
others. It was the combination of greatness and self-sacrifice 
which won their hearts, the mighty powers held under a 
mighty control, the unspeakable condescension, the Cross of 
Christ, By this, and by nothing else, the enthusiasm of a 
Paul was kindled. The statement rests on no hypothesis or 
conjecture; his epistles bear testimony to it throughout. 
The trait in Christ which filled his whole mind was His con- 
descension. The charm of that condescension lay in its being 
voluntary. The cross of Christ, of which Paul so often 
speaks as the only thing he found worth glorying in, as that 
in comparison with which every thing in the world was as 
dung^ was the voluntary submission to death of One who had 
the power to escape death; this he says in express words. 
And what Paul constantly repeats in impassioned language, 
the other apostles echo. Christ's voluntary surrender of 
power is their favorite subject, the humiliation implied in His 
whole life and crowned by His death." * 

* " Ecce Homo," page 55. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

THE CHURCH FOUNDED BY CHRIST AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 
IDENTICAL. 

A CRITICAL examination of the Holy Scriptures, and of the 
authorized doctrines of the Catholic Church, will demonstrate 
conclusively that the latter is a continuation and perpetuation 
of the Church established by Jesus Christ. Precisely the 
same doctrines, the same ordinances, and the same ecclesi- 
astical organization which were established by Jesus and His 
inspired apostles still exist in the Catholic Church. From 
generation to generation her holy fathers have preserved all 
of these sacred truths inviolate. 

As Christ taught the necessity of faith in God, in the 
Trinity, and in His own teachings, so does the Catholic 
Church believe and teach. 

As the Saviour, by His words and example, inculcated 
the necessity of baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, so does the Catholic Church teach and practise. 

As Jesus Continually dwelt upon the necessity of repent- 
ance, confession, and reform.ation, so does the Catholic Churcli 
constantly insist upon an observance of the same duties. 

As Christ confirmed the faith and resolution of His apos- 
tles by infusing into them the Holy Spirit, through a special 
ceremony (breathing upon them) ; and as the apostles con- 
firmed their recent converts by calling down upon them the 



THE CHUECH FOUI^DED BY CHEIST, ETC. 119 

same Holy Spirit, througli the laying on of hands, so does the 
Church confirm her converts by imitating their example. 

As Jesus instituted a holy commemorative supper, and 
commanded that it should he perpetuated, promising to be 
miraculously present whenever the sacrament should be 
worthily celebrated, the Catholic Church literally believes 
and obeys this divine commandment. 

As Christ appointed, ordained, and sanctified His apostles 
as His organized ministers to preach His holy truths, and to 
confess, baptize, confirm, minister to, and ordain oth^r faith- 
ful men, and as the apostles in like manner appointed, or- 
dained, and organized bishops, priests, and deacons, to teach 
and practise the same things, directing them to continue on 
in the same course toward still other faithful men, so does 
the Catholic Church appoint, ordain, and organize her sacer- 
dotal ofiScers to perpetuate the same doctrines and ob- 
servances. 

As the Redeemer regarded marriage as a sacred obliga- 
tion, upon a due recognition of which the welfare of society 
depends, He conferred upon it the dignity of a sacrament : 
and the Church has ever acknowledged the sacredness of the 
institution. 

As the apostle gave a general command in cases of sick- 
ness, that " the priests of the Church shall be called in to 
pray over the sick person, and to anoint him with oil," with 
a view of calling down upon him especial blessings, so does 
tlie Church still call in. its priests to the sick, to pray over 
them, to anoint them, and to invoke the aid of the Holy 
Spirit at the hour of death. 

Christ reasserted the ten commandments as an obligatory 
practical code for all Christians: the Church accepts the 
divine code and requires obedience to its injunctions. 

Christ demands of men supreme love of God, and fraternal 
love of their fellow-creatures: the Church inculcates the same 
duties as fundamental elements of Christianity. 

Christ presented to mankind a model prayer, and com- 
manded that it should be employed in their acts of devotion : 



120 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

the Churcli has sacredly preserved it, and ever employs it in 
her worship. 

When Christ was on earth He founded His Church — a 
Church with " one Lord, one faith, and one baptism : " He 
formed His apostles into an ecclesiastical organization to pre- 
side over this Church, to preach its doctrines to all nations, 
and to perpetuate it through their successors to the end of 
the world. He told them that He sent them as lambs among 
wolves, and that they should suiFer all sorts of persecutions 
for His sake ; but that the Holy Spirit should go with them 
to prompt and encourage them in their labors. He assured 
them that He had established the Church not for a day, or 
for a generation, but for all time and for all generations, and 
that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. In due 
time Christ ascended to heaven, the apostles dispersed them- 
selves among the nations as they had been commanded, 
preached the truths they had received from the lips of Christ, 
baptized, confessed, and confirmed their converts, ordained 
pastors in many places, and then died. But the Church, with 
her divinely-endowed precepts and discipline, did not die, for 
they were encircled by the protecting arms of the Almighty. 

The successors of the apostles continued to teach and to 
practise the same precepts and observances which they had 
received from the immediate ministers of Christ, which they 
had received from Christ Himself, and which He had received 
from the Father in heaven. 

After three hundred years, when the Emperor Constantino 
allowed the Christians to come forth to the light of day. they 
presented themselves a poioer in the empire, and the Church 
emerged from her subterranean sanctuaries a thoroughly en- 
dowed ecclesiastical organization of ministers, sacraments, 
and forms of worship. She also brought up in their original 
purity and truthfulness the Holy Scriptures and traditions 
which had been confided to her by Christ and His apostles. 
During these first three centuries nearly every pope, and multi- 
tudes of priests and disciples of the Church, had been mai-tyrecl. 
Chief among these Christian heroes were Saints Peter, Paul, 



THE CHUECH FOUNDED BY CHEIST, ETC. 121 

Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Ignatius, Irenaeus, and Eusebius. 
In these bloody centuries the Church was visible in the per- 
secutions and martrydoras of her children, by the emissaries 
of Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Adrian, Aurelius, Commodus, 
Severus, Septimus Severus, Maximin, Decius, Valerian, Au- 
relian, and Diocletian. Of all these persecuting emperors 
'Nero was the most vindictive against the Christians. In his 
own person he combined all of the bad traits of his three 
predecessors. They committed acts of tyranny for purposes 
of plunder, revenge, sensual gratification, or to please a mis- 
tress, or a court favorite ; but Nero perpetrated his horrible 
atrocities from mere wantonness^ without cause or pretext. 
A diabolical spirit appeared to animate him, and to prompt 
him continually in the performance of those cruel deeds which 
filled the world with wretchedness. As his demon-soul re- 
volted against every thing good, it was natural that his fero- 
city should have been especially directed toward the recent 
converts to Christianity. Therefore every effort which ma- 
levolence and cunning ingenuity could devise, was made to 
capture, insult, rob, torture, and destroy the unoffending 
Christians of his dominions. They were pursued to their 
most secret hiding-places, and when caught were often cast 
into the amphitheatre to be mangled and devoured by wild 
beasts, or into the gladiatorial arena to receive their death- 
wounds from the trained gladiators and murderers who were 
employed in these cruel sports. Neither age nor sex escaped 
the ferocity of this human monster. To hear the screams, and 
to witness the contortions and agonies of delicate Christian 
females and children while being torn and devoured by the 
hungry lions and tigers of the amphitheatre, Avas a pastime 
for this persecuting pagan. To know that a human being, 
particularly a Christian, was wretched, was ecstasy to him ; 
and to see his blood, his writhings of anguish, and to hear his 
frantic cries of fear and pain, afforded him extreme pleasure. 
Such was Nero, and such was the general character of the 
persecutions to which the early Christians were subjected. 
In spite of all these persecutions the Church- existed, her 
6 



122 CIIKISTIANITY A^D ITS CONFLICTS. 

organization was secretly kept up, her discipline was main- 
tained, and her worship was duly although secretly per- 
formed. If it be asked, then, where was the Church during 
the first three centuries of the Christian era? we answer, 
in her subterranean hiding-places, with her secret ecclesiasti- 
cal organization, and her secret though regular worship. 

Where was this Church when Constantino issued his de- 
crees of toleration, more than three hundred years after the 
ascension of the Saviour? We find it at the Councils of 
Aries (a. d. 314), of Mce (a. i>. 325), of Sardica (a. d. 347), 
and at other councils which were convened to watch over 
and defend the integrity aad purity of her divine doctrines 
and rites. We also find it in the numerous churches which 
were everywhere being erected, and in the Catholic worship 
and discipline which were now publicly established. 

One of the most important events in the history of 
Christianity was the accession of Constantino to the imperial 
throne, a. d. 806. He was a great statesman, a great general, 
and a man of such mental calibre that he was able to discern 
t"he truth, and the vast superiority of the Christian religion 
over the superstitions of paganism. Conviction of a truth, 
implied with him a prompt practical application of it for the 
benefit of his people. In reviewing the career of this great 
man, and in scrutinizing his opinions, motives, and acts, it is 
but fair that we consider the epoch in which he lived, the 
prevalent philosophies and religious beliefs, the influence of 
early example and education, and the moral courage neces- 
sary to break av/ay from an hereditary and universally re- 
ceived religious creed, and to adopt a new and unpopular 
one. Up to the time of this emperor, every Roman ruler 
had been a pagan, a Platonist, a Stoic, a Sophist, or an Epi- 
curean; and nearly every Latin subject of the Roman domin- 
ions kept his household gods, worshipped in pagan temples, 
and offered sacrifices to his heathen deities. The spiritual 
welfare of the people was confided to the various gods whom 
their fathers for many generations had taught them to re- 
gard as supreme arbiters of the destinies of men and nations. 



THE CHUKCH FOUNDED BY CIIKlSTj ETC. 128 

The few scattered converts to Christianity were poor, de- 
spised, hated, and persecuted. In the cities and towns 
thousands of their brethren had been martyred, while the 
more timid fled to the deserts and mountains to escape perse- 
cution and death. From the midst of such a people, and 
such a civilization, Constantine appeared, and boldly raised 
aloft the sacred banner of the cross, gave full protection to 
Christians, destroyed the heathen temples, and erected in 
their places Christian churches {basilica), and, for the first 
time since the days of Christ, permitted the Christians to 
come out from their hiding-places and worship the true God 
openly and fearlessly. A moral courage like this, which de- 
fied public opinion, innovated upon the habits and customs 
of his subjects, rescued from obscurity and concealment the 
sacred doctrines, and the converts of Christianity, and con- 
tributed so materially in making the Church of Christ more 
visible and more universal, marks an era in human progress, 
and stamps its author with greatness and glory. 

But, strange as it may seem, men* have lived, and still 
live, who have dared to brand this great emperor as a hypo- 
crite, a libertine, a murderer, a demagogue, a heretic, and a 
sanguinary heathen at heart ! In order to cast opprobrium 
upon those early Catholic Christians, who have preserved 
for them the Holy Scriptures, and who presided over the 
only visible Church during the early ages, modern innovators 
pervert the facts of history to blacken the reputation of a 
Christian benefactor like Constantine ! God help these ca- 
knnniators, and endow them with more truthfulness and 
charity. 

Where was the one Church of Christ in the fifth century, 
when Europe was successively invaded and devastated by 
Alaric the Goth, Attila the Hun, and Genseric the Yandal; 
when cities, towns, churches, monasteries, libraries, and 
manuscripts w^ere everywhere consumed, when Christians 
w^ere hunted down and enslaved, or killed like v/ild beasts ; 
when Italy, Gaul, Britain, Spain, Greece, and other portions 

* Gibbon, White, and other historians. 



124 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

of the Roman empire were taken possession of by the Goths, 
Vandals, Huns, Franks, Saxons, Alans, and other barbarous 
hordes? During these turbulent epochs, where was the 
priesthood, and where the Holy Scriptures? While the 
aged, the weak, and the timid fled to the wildernesses, the 
deserts, the mountains, and the caves of the earth, the Chris- 
tian priests were ever in the field with their lay-brethren, 
aiding in the contest against the barbarian invaders — not 
with sword, lance, and pike, but with the spiritual weapons 
of Christian love and truth. The spiritual contest was ear- 
nest and persistent, but victory eventually remained with 
the Christians ; and entire nations of idolaters were perma- 
nently added to the Church, the nuclei of future powerful 
kingdoms, and of advanced states of civilization. God, in 
His providence, permitted these wild hordes of the North to 
scourge with fire and sword the degenerate and depraved 
subjects of the Roman doraiaions, and to seize upon their 
vast possessions ; but He likewise permitted His holy Church 
to subjugate the conquerors themselves, and to bring them 
under the gentle yoke of the Redeemer. After this period, 
strange-sounding and barbaric names figure among the pre- 
lates of the Church. The Christian priests of these bloody 
epochs worshipped God as the apostles and their immediate 
successors had worshipped Him under the first persecuting 
emperors ; and the monks continued to transcribe and trans- 
mit the Holy Scriptures and traditions of the Church, as 
they had before done in the catacombs of Rome. Daring 
these centuries of barbarian rule, tens of thousands of Catholic 
priests and monks were scattered over Europe, Asia, and 
Africa, preaching and practising the doctrines of Christ, 
copying the holy records, and preserving them as the apples 
of their eyes. Had there been no Roman Church, with her 
organized hierarchy, in the midst of these dark ages, to copy, 
conceal, and transmit the sacred records which Christ gave 
to man, the world would nov/ have been without a Bible or 
a Christian religion. ISTearly all candid Protestant writers 
admit that there was but one Church and one ecclesiastical 



ETC. 125 

corporation, and that one the Catholic, during these first cen- 
turies. Thus White writes : " While it is absurd, therefore, 
in those disastrous times of weakness and persecution to 
talk in pompous terms of the succession of the Bishops of 
Kome, and make out A^ain catalogues of lordly prelates who 
sat on the throne of St. Peter, it is incontestable that, from 
the earliest period, the Christian converts held their meet- 
ings — by stealth, mdeed, and under fear of detection — and 
obeyed certain canons of their own constitution. These se- 
cret associations spread their ramifications into every great 
city of the empire."* 

We may behold where the Koman Church was when the 
fierce Ilunnish chief, Attila, after having devastated all Eu- 
rope, had arrived in front of the gates of Rome with his half 
million of barbarian vf arriors, and demanded an uncondition- 
al surrender. Rome had already been once sacked and de- 
stroyed, and a large portion of Italy had been devastated, by 
Alaric the Goth. ISTearly all of the wild tribes beyond the 
confines of the Roman empire had united with his army of 
Goths; all were hostile to Rome, and all were bent on plun- 
der and territorial possession. Early in this century, Gaul, 
Britain, and Spain seceded from the Roman empire, and 
formed themselves into independent sovereignties. Later, 
Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia, united to- form a single king- 
dom. These successful secessions served to embolden other 
disaffected provinces, and to shake seriously the stability of 
the empire. There was not a single great statesman or gen- 
eral in all Rome when, in a. d. 441, the terrible Attila, the 
" Scourge of Gocl," flushed with numerous victories recently 
achieved in Asia and Africa, made his irruption into Europe. 
For long years, the barbarian conqueror and his fierce sol- 
diers, from their wild steppes and deserts, had cast their eyes 
in the direction of the mistress of the world and her exhaust- 
less wealth. In their waking and sleeping dreams, the vi- 
sion of this great centre of power, learning, and riches, had 
been constantly before them. For centuries the Roman 
* "Eighteen Christian Centuries," p. '77. 



126 CIIRTSTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

legions had not only held the civilized nations in subjection, 
but they had kept the wild tribes of the outer world strictly 
confined within their native forests and fastnesses. Tradi- 
tion had pictured to these savages the fabulous productions 
of the Roman territories— the gold, silver, precious stones, 
and works of art which enriched and adorned her cities, 
especially Rome herself, the great source and dispenser of all 
these magnificent accumulations, and an irrepressible desire 
of conquest and possession animated them. They were now 
at the goal of their ambition, with an overwhelming and in- 
vincible army. Attila, attired in the gorgeousness of orien- 
tal magnificence, and surrounded by an imposing retinue of 
barbarian chiefs and men-at-arms, thundered at the gates of 
the capital, and demanded its surrender. In the background 
crouched myriads of ferocious-visaged warriors, with lances 
poised, and sword and battle-axe firmly clinched, ravenous 
for blood and plunder, and panting to spring upon the de- 
voted city. The most abject barbarism and the highest 
civilization of the age stood face to face, the latter at the 
mercy of the former. In response to the dread summons, 
the gates of Rome were opened wide, her champion walked 
forth alone, and paused not until he stood before the fierce 
victor and his hosts. Clothed in the vestments of his sacred 
office, and carrying upraised before him the holy cross, the 
venerable Pope Leo confronted Attila. Inspired by the Ho- 
ly Spirit, the man of God addressed the pagan chief with 
words of love, charity, fraternity : he spoke of the merciful 
Father of all mankind ; he pointed to the sacred emblem 
with which he was armed, recounted the mission and cruci- 
fixion of Christ for all men, and prayed that God might bless 
and soften him. The chieftain's heart was touched, and his 
proud spirit bowed with awe and wonder before the majesty 
of the earthly representative of the Son of man. Melting 
with charity and mercy, the victor of a thousand bloody 
fights knelt before the weak old man and craved his bless- 
ing. Rome was spared, and the venerable pontiff", carrying 
before him the holy cross, reentered her gates, and reassured 



THE OHUECH FOUNDED BY CHEIST, ETC. 127 

ber trembling citizens ; wMle the wild cohorts of the savage 
Hun were marshalled on other and distant fields. 

Neither Attila and his invading Hnns, nor Alaric and his 
Goths, nor Genseric and his Vandals, had any difficulty in 
findino; the one Church which Christ had left behind Him, 
as their attacks against churches, monasteries, libraries, bish- 
ops, priests, monks, and nuns, amply testify. 

After this period we behold three distinct elements of civi- 
lization struggling for the mastery in Europe : the old Roman, 
the Christian, and the Barbaric. Each presented a religious, 
moral, and social system, and urged its adoption. Men listened 
to these conflicting theories, witnessed their practical results, 
and formed their conclusions. In such a contest is it strange 
that Christianity was victorious, and " that the gates of hell 
could not prevail against " the one Catholic Church of God ? 

Under the emperors all kinds of physical labor fell into 
the hands of the slaves. As a consequence, the useful arts 
and sciences gradually languished, and agriculture became 
almost entirely neglected. Instead of the skilled labor of 
interested and prosperous artisans and farmers, forced and 
unintelligent servile toil was universally substituted. Dis- 
grace attached to the patrician, or to the free Roman citizen 
who should soil his dainty hands with work. Even litera- 
ture and public education gradually participated in the gen- 
eral deterioration. Schools everywhere diminished, and the 
cultivation of letters everywhere declined, until, with the 
establishment of feudalism in the early part of tlie seventh 
century, general darkness, and material, intellectual, and 
social decay seemed to brood over the nations. 

During this dark period, vfas there no counteracting in- 
fluence, no hand to stay the downward course of all that v/as 
ennobling and useful? In the churches, monasteries, and 
schools of the Catholic Church, and in the labors of her 
priests and monks, we find these influences. It is indisputa- 
ble that, during these dark centuries, the unaided efforts of 
the priesthood rescued from destruction nearly all existing 
sacred and profane manuscripts, and preserved and transmit- 



128 CHKISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

ted them to posteiity ; also that literature and agriculture 
made actual progress under the special direction and patron- 
age of the Church. Witness tlie vast humanitarian efforts 
wlilch have constantly oeen exerted by the order of St. Ben- 
edict, established in the sixth century 1 IJp to the organiza- 
tion of this society, manual labor had been considered degra- 
ding to freemen, but St. Benedict and his monks changed all 
this. " 'No person," says St. Benedict, " is ever more useful- 
ly employed, than when working with his hands or following 
the plough, and providing food for the use of men." And so 
the monks tilled the soil with their own hands, follov^ed the 
plough, and gathered in the harvests, while their position gave 
dignity to work. These men were, par excellence, the agri- 
culturists of Europe. They selected their lands with judg- 
ment, and erected their monasteries on them, causing the 
deserts to blossom like the rose, and creating utility and 
beauty in places of barrenness and want. "And at last," 
says White, " something venerable was thought to reside in 
the act of farming itself It was so uniformly found an ac- 
companiment of the priestly character, that it acquired a 
portion of its sanctity. . . . Their lands became places of 
sanctuaiy, as the altar of the Church had been. Freedmen— - 
that is, persons manumitted from slavery, but not yet en- 
dowed with property — were everywhere put under the pro- 
tection of the clergy. . . . The Church was found in all the 
kingdoms to be so useful as the introducer of agriculture, 
and the preserver of what learning had survived the Roman 
overthrow, that the ambitious hierarchy profited by the roy- 
al and popular favor. They were the most influential, or 
perhaps it would be more just to say, they vfere the 07il7/ 
order in the state." * 

These are the sentiments of an ultra Protestant author, 
and they are true. What was this " only order " — this sole 
ecclesiastical society v/hich had exerted so potent an influence 
upon agriculture, learning, and the general civilization and 
progress of this dark period ? Who were these Christian 
* "Eigliteea Christian Centuries," p. 145. 



THE CHUECH FOUl^TDED BY CUEIST, ETC. 129 

ministers who were calling forth the admiration and grati- 
tude of kings and people for the great benefits they were 
conferring upon their fellow-creatures ? Surely they were 
not Lutherans, or Calvinists, or Hussites, or Wickliffites, or 
Wesleyans, or Arians ; but the humble workers of the one 
holy, Catholic, and visible Church, carrying out practically 
her natural and legitimate principles of development. They 
were priests and monks of the only organized and visible 
Church on earth, obeying the commands of the Pontiff of 
Rome ; working with their hands to sustain the bodies of 
their fellow-men, and with their minds and hearts to furnish 
spiritual food for the needy. Often during the middle cen- 
turies, when these priestly model farmers of the world have 
gratuitously sent from their well-stored granaries, cargoes of 
grain to the distant starving nations, have they been recog- 
nized, not only as benefactors of their race, but as the special 
servants and ministers of God ; and yet dissenting innova- 
tors and rationalists of the nineteenth century sneer at them 
and their calling as useless. That there have been bad 
monks in the world we doubt not ; but they may be fairly 
considered as exceptions to the rule. E"or will this appear 
surprising when we remember that for several of the first 
centuries of the Christian era, the monks were only laymen, 
without any ecclesiastical authority or functions. Thus" we 
see that the monks of the middle ages by no means confined 
themselves to the ascetic duties and austerities of their mon- 
asteries and cells, or to teaching, preaching, worshipping, or 
writing. Wherever God's truths were to be announced, or 
human suffering to be alleviated, there might be found these 
self-sacrificing men. Let it not be forgotten that nearly all 
of the converts of the early and middle ages were made from 
pagoMism.* and that after the northern invaders had taken 
possession of Europe, and established their kingdoms, these 
future converts were not only idolaters, but rude, unlettered, 
and savage barbarians. Many of these new converts 'secured 
for themselves high positions in the Church. Among them 
were seen bishops, abbots, priests, and monks. While nearly 
6* 



130 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

all of tbem were pious and consistent Christians, a few still 
retained some of their old pagan notions, and were inclined 
to deviate from the rules and discipline of the Church. It was 
not strange that these men now and then lapsed back into 
their old ways, and gave to the world had examples of a 
Christian life. Let not, then, the holy doctrines of the Church 
be repudiated because individuals professing her doctrines 
have violated them, and gone astray. Because wicked men 
have intrigued themselves into high ecclesiastical positions, 
and then sinned apace, let not the laws and ordinances of 
God suffet" for these personal crimes. During these ages, 
continual efforts were made by the pontiffs, as well as through 
reformatory councils and other means, to reform these person- 
al abuses, and generally with success. But these reformations 
were always made within the Church, not by withdrawing 
from it, breaking its unity, and organizing anotlier and dif" 
ferent one. 

Men are prone to judge of the past from the present. 
They fail to note differences respecting the knowledge, cul- 
ture, religion, morals, and general civilization of different 
eras. They contrast the Europe of the early centuries, teem- 
ing with both cultivate i and savage idolaters, with the en- 
lightened Europe of the last three centuries, and sneer at the 
Church because some of her pagan converts have sometimes 
been corrupt and sinful. Rather let us wonder at the mar- 
vellous mercy of God, whose divine aid enabled the Church 
to survive the persecutions and deadly hostility of a heathen 
world, amidst the wrecks of empires and kingdoms, and the 
invasions of savage tribes ! 

After the death of Mohammed, a. d. 632, the Saracen inva- 
sions of the seventh and eighth centuries, under Abou Beker, 
Khaled, Omar, Amru, and Abdel-malek, were organized. 
The object of the previous invaders had been plunder and 
territorial possessions ; but that of the Mohammedans was of 
a religious character. Like the early Puritans of ISTew Eng- 
land in their contests against the Lidians, they marched with 
their religion in one hand, and their ciraeters in the other; 



THE CnURCH FOUNDED EY CHRIST, ETC. 131 

and if the first did not find its way to the hearts of their op- 
ponents, the last were certain to do so. Syria, Persia, Jeru- 
salem, Aleppo, Antioch, Tyre, Tripoli, fell into the hands of 
the Saracen, and Constantinople Avas several times besieged, 
but the terrible " Greek fire " which was projected upon the 
heads of the Turkish soldiers, repeatedly drove them back. 
Later they penetrated into the very heart of Europe with 
vast armies of fiery fanatics, fully bent on conquering and 
converting the world to the faith of Islam. Never has the 
fate of Christianity been so seriously imperilled, as when 
Omar, with his vast army had arrived at Tours and staked 
the fate of his campaign on the result of a single battle. Had 
Omar been succe>ssful, all Christendom would have been sub- 
jected to the Saracen, and darkness would have shrouded 
the coming centuries. But the Christians appealed to the 
God of battles, and under Charles Martel and his brave 
Franks, Burgundians, and other Christian warriors, cheered 
on by Pope Boniface who acted in perfect accord with Char- 
lemagne, by the priests of the Church, and the prayers of the 
faithful, accepted the dread encounter. The faith and prayers^ 
of the Church were not in vain. That Divine Guardian 
which was to preside over her forever, hovered over the 
bloody field of Tours until the fierce Saracen and his hosts, 
fled in dismay and disorder back from whence they came be-! 
yond the Pyrenees. 

The religion of the Saracen was of a higher order than 
that of the Romans, or of their barbarian conquerors from the 
North. They believed in one personal God, Maker and 
Euler of heaven and earth, and that Mohammed was his 
inspired prophet ; but they denied in toto the divinity of 
Jesus Christ. They were Unitarians, and regarded their 
prophet in the same light as Arius and his disciples regarded 
the Saviour. By nature ardent, sanguine, impulsive, and 
warlike, all of the fiery energies of their beings were concen- 
trated upon their religion, and they became fanatics and in- 
vading propagandists. Their various attacks on Europe were 
not so much for gain as for proselytism. Their great chiefs 



132 CHEISTIAITITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

led tliem to battle, not for personal fame, or glory, or liclies, 
but for their religion ; they went forth not in the garbs and 
appointments of oriental splendor, but meanly clad, scantily 
fed, and sharing all of the privations, dangers, and drudger- 
ies of the common soldier. They hated the Christian Church 
because it acknowledged Christ as the Son of God, and re- 
garded Mohammed as an impostor. For this reason their 
hostility and their energies were mainly directed against the 
cathedrals, basilicas, monasteries, abbeys, and the bishops 
and priests of the Roman Church. For this reason were the 
soldiers of Islam ordered to execute special vengeance upon 
whatever pertained to the ecclesiastical society, with the 
grand view of overthrowing the Roman Catholic Church and 
of estabhshing the religion of Mohammed upon the ruins of 
Christianity. The warriors of the false prophet had no diffi- 
culty m finding the followers, the edifices, and the manuscripts 
of the one true Church, as the innumerable slaughters of 
Christians and the wanton conflagrations of the holy places 
and holy records of the Church bear witness. 

In the seventh century, after feudalism had been firmly 
established in the newly founded western kingdoms, the con- 
dition of the masses of the people was one of abject degrada- 
tion. The feudal chiefs and barons claimed and exercised 
despotic power over the souls and bodies of their retainers. 
Every thing like human dignity and human rights was ig- 
nored. Labor was degraded, culture repressed, virtue de- 
rided, and the more base and selfish propensities cultivated. 
In this condition of popular, moral, and social depravation 
and degradation, the down-trodden people possessed one, 
and only one friend — one resource and refuge frbm their 
grievous wrongs and burdens — the Roman Catholic Church. 
In all their troubles and persecutions from emperor, king, 
baron, count, or chief, they ever found efficient aid and sym- 
pathy from the Church. As Christ and His apostles advo- 
cated the cause of the poor, the humble, and the oppressed, 
against the rich and powerful of their epoch, so acted their 
successors of the seventh century. As White well observes : 



THE CIIUECH FOUNDED BY CHSIST, ETC. 133 

*' The Church placed itself at the head of the democracy in 
opposition to the overweening pretensions of the chiefs. It 
opened its ranks to the conquered races, and invested even 
the converted serf with dignities which placed him above the 

level of thane or count There was one earthly power to 

w^iich the oppressed could look up with the certainty of sup- 
port. It was this intimate persuasion in the minds of the 
people w^hich gave such undying vigor to the councils and 
pretensions of the ecclesiastical power. It was a power 
sprung from the people, and exercised for the benefit of the 
people." * 

How readily does this Protestant w^riter recognize the 
beneficial influence of the only Church of God on earth in 
this darkest of centuries ; and how clearly does he make it 
manifest that the Almighty has brought forth and sustained 
this " ecclesiastical power " to resist tyranny in high places, 
to ameliorate the condition of the poor, the humble, and the 
enslaved, and to perpetuate the Christian religion. 

In the divine epoch, whenever Christ addressed the mul- 
titudes which everywhere followed Him, He always incul- 
cated the importance of fraternity and kindliness among men. 
Supreme love to God and brotherly love according to our 
Saviour, are the two great ideas upon w^hich are hinged all 
of the laws and the prophets. The observance of these pre- 
cepts renders men charitable, benevolent, afl'ectionate, and 
disposed to perform good acts. In all ages the Church has 
professed and practised these commandments, and for this 
reason has ever been the champion of the oppressed, the op- 
ponent of tyrannical emperors, kings, and nobles, and the 
bulwark of democracy. 

During the lifetime of Charlemagne, great progress had 
been made in extending the Christian religion among the 
heathen, and in the arts of civilization. AH of these Chris- 
tianizing and humanitarian efforts originated in the Church, 
and were sustained solely by its influence. Being a devoted 
Catholic, as well as a great statesman and warrior, Charle- 

* " Eighteen Cliristian Centuries," p. 154. 



134 CriPwISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

magne brought into requisition the vast resources of his 
temporal power and his splendid intellect, to aid the Church 
in extending and perpetuating the religion of Christ on 
earth. Under the inspiration of the Catholic hierarchy 
this great monarch founded vast numbers of churches, mon- 
asteries, institutions of learning, and missions, throughout 
his extensive dominions, and gave every encouragement to 
the arts, literature, agriculture, and commerce. 

After his death, in the early part of the ninth century, the 
Western empire again crumbled into fragments, which were 
soon after reorganized to form several new kingdoms. Dark- 
ness again came over the nations, obscuring the beacon-light 
of Christianity, and ignorance, selfishness, and sin, every- 
where abounded. The whole of Europe was filled with half- 
converted barbarians, Franks, Lombards, Goths, Saxons, etc., 
many of them in forcible possession of the temporalities of 
the sees. During this deep darkness of the ninth century, 
we may readily understand why the progress of Christianity 
v/as of necessity slow, and the cultivation of those graces and 
virtues which pertain to a more advanced state of knowledge 
and culture was exceedingly limited. With such conflicts 
of opinion, with a world in arms — ISTorseman against Saxon — 
Saracen against Frank, German, and Italian — now the wor- 
shippers of Odin and Mohammed in the ascendant, and again 
the Christian, it is not strange that so little advancement 
was made in religion and human progress. It is unreason- 
able to compare these newly made Christians, these recent 
worshippers of heathen gods, with the enlightened Christians 
of the present day. It is absurd to expect that firm and un- 
doubting faith and holiness of life in these Christians of the 
middle ages, which is demanded of the modern Catholic. 

The tenth century was but little more than a repetition 
of the ninth, so far as Christianity and civilization were con- 
cerned. In both centuries the Roman Church was the only 
element which prevented the nations from lapsing into abso- 
lute barbarism. Whenever kings, nobles, and warrior-chiefs, 
under the influence of the powers of darkness, endeavored to 



THE CHUKCH FOUl^DED BY CIIEIST, ETC. 135 

subvert Christianity, and to subjugate the souls and bodies 
of the people to their tyrannical ambition and idolatrous 
pleasures, the Roman bishops and priests always interposed 
their potent influence in behalf of the people. " The tenth 
century," remarked White, " is always to be remembered as 
the darkest and most debased of all the periods of modern his- 
tory. It was the midnight of the human mind, far out of the 
reach of the faint evening twilight left by Roman culture, 
and farther still from the morning brightness of the new and 
higher civilization."* 

The author of this extract cannot forego the pleasure of 
vilifying the Roman Church and pontiff, because they are 
adjuncts to this dark century. But while flippantly accusing 
bishops and priests of forgeries, impostures, and crimes of all 
kinds, he is forced to admit that, " even in the midst of this 
corruption and ignorance, there were not wanting some re- 
deeming qualities which soften our feelings toward the eccle- 
siastic power. It was at all times, in its theory, a protest 
against the excesses of mere strength and violence. The 
doctrines it professed to teach were those of kindness and 
charity ; and in the great idea of the throned fisherman at 
Rome, the poorest saw a kingdom which was not of this 
world, and yet to which all the kingdoms of this world must 
bow Mysterious reverence still hung round the con- 
vents, within which such ceaseless prayers were said, and so . 
many relics exposed, and whither it was also known that all 
the learning and scholarship of the land had fled for refuge 
.... The abbot who neglected to feed the poor was not only 
an unchristian contemner of the precepts of the faith, but ran 
counter to the legal obligations of his place." f 

We have already observed that the Roman Church was 
the only redeeming element of this, as it had been of the pre- 
vious centuries. The masses of the people were composed 
of an amalgamated race of all the barbaric hordes which had 
settled in Europe, with the effeminate and demoralized 

* " Eighteen Christian Centuries," p. 220. 
f Ibid., p. 221. 



136 CHEISTIANITT AKD ITS CONFLICTS. 

Christians of tlie old empire; and, as might be expected, 
they were ignorant, and often cormpt and lawless. Nor is 
it surprising that some of these ungodly men occasionally 
secured high ecclesiastical positions upon which they brought 
disgrace. But, in the main, the priests of this period were 
holy and charitable, and were the sole agents in transmitting 
the Holy Scriptures and the doctrines of the Church to suc- 
ceeding generations. Their monasteries and other institu- 
tions were asylums for the oppressed, and food-suppliers for 
the poor. If the Christians of this period were generally ig- 
norant, they were for the most part earnest and faithful in 
their religious duties, and by their example and labors pre- 
served Europe from universal idolatry. 

Daring the tenth century the Norsemen under Hollo in- 
vaded France, captured Rouen and other towns and prov- 
inces, and established a permanent settlement in Normandy. 
On their arrival they were heathen, and worshipped Thor, 
Odin, and Frey ; but through the efforts of the Catholic pas- 
tors they v/ere speedily Christianized and civilized, Rollo re- 
ceiving the title of Duke of Normandy and Brittany. Their 
conquered territory was eventually incorporated as a province 
of France. 

The most notable events of tlie eleventh and twelfth cen- 
turies were the several Christian crusades against the Sara- 
cens for the purpose of capturing Jerusalem and the holy 
places. Several of the bishops of Rome encouraged these 
religious campaigns, with a twofold view of uniting in a 
common bond the contending Christian nations against the 
infidel, and of rescuing from their polluting possession the 
places which had been sanctified by the presence of Jesus. 
Nearly the whole Christian world entered zealously into 
these holy wars, and all national and sectional animosities 
were laid aside for the better accomplishment of the great 
enterprise. Under the glowing inspiration of Peter the her- 
mit, St: Bernard of Clairvaux, and the leadership of Godfrey, 
Baldwin, Robert of Normandy, Hugh the Great, Raymond 
of St. Gillis, Richard CoBur de Lion, Frederick Barbarossa, 



THE CIIUECH FOL^NDED BY CHEIST, ETC. 137 

and Philip Augustus, three successive crusades were under- 
taken during the twelfth century. In these three crusades 
more than two millions of men were engaged, and about two 
millions destroyed by war, famine, pestilence, climate, and 
excesses. The motives of these Christian invaders were 
good, and they believed that they were serving the cause of 
God and of the Christian religion; but their vast efforts 
v/ere unsuccessful. 

During the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Church 
continu.ed to be the only element of true civilization. The 
crusades had brought all classes into more direct intercourse 
Vfith each other, and, through the efforts of the priests, the 
nobles and barons regarded the common people with a higher 
d-egree of respect and confidence. The Church has always 
regarded all men as equals before God and the Church, and 
all were held responsible for thek actions. Like the apostles, 
nearly all of the popes and higher bishops had sprung from 
the people, so that from sympathy, as well as from a sense 
of duty, their efforts have ever been directed toward their 
elevation and happiness. " True to its origin," says White, 
" the Church still continued the leader of the people in oppo- 
sition to the pretensions of the feudal chiefs. It was still 
a democratic organization for the protection of the weak 
against the powerful." * 

The popes and ministers of the Church have ahvays fol- 
lowed in the footsteps of their divine Master, and in all ages 
of the Christian era have sustained His doctrines, and 
been consistent and untiring friends and protectors of the 
poor and oppressed. Whenever emperors, kings, or nobles 
have practised injustice tov/ard the people, the Church has 
always interposed her censures and her authority to procure 
redress. During these centuries, many institutions of learn- 
ing, churches, and monasteries, were erected by order of the 
popes, and great encouragement was given to men of genius 
and learning. Every thing like immorality and idleness was 
rebuked continually and sternly by the popes, w^hether 

p. 2'73. 



138 c^EISTIAlN^TT and its conflicts. 

occurring in the palace or the hovel. And chief among the 
men of learning, science, art, and agriculture, as well as 
other useful and ornamental j^ursuits, were the monks, as 
had always been the case in previous centuries. They were 
the pioneers and workers in every thing which tended to 
advance Christianity, civilization, and human happiness. 

So far as the general progress of civilization and the 
rights of man were concerned, the general tendencies of the 
thirteenth century were progressive. The people of every 
nation continued to derive benefit from the truly religious 
and democratic influences of the Church. All forms of irre- 
ligion and of tyrannical oppression were everywhere put 
down with firmness by ecclesiastical authority, and the 
smouldering fires of barbaric incredulity and innovation, 
which here and there manifested themselves, were summa- 
rily extinguished. In the early part of this century a sect 
of Protestants sprung into existence, known as Albigenses. 
These men introduced their innovations in Languedoc, under 
the patronage of Count Raymond YI. Their object was to 
set up a new rationalistic creed, in place of the established 
doctrines of the Church, but were successfully resisted and 
p>ut down by Pope Innocent III. As might be expected, 
our opponents have severely censured these acts as uncalled 
for and unchristian. As a Catholic we are not disposed 
to defend all of the acts of individual representatives of the 
Church during the middle ages ; but had we lived in those 
days of ignorance and darkness, we might have advocated 
them in all honesty of intention. In this nineteenth century 
we cannot regard with approval the crusades against the 
Saracens in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, nor the estab- 
lishment of the Inquisition; but these abuses of ecclesiastical 
power are incidents of semi-barbarous epochs, entirely out- 
side of the authorized canons and dogmas of the Roman 
Church, and in no manner connected with the great truths of 
the Church itself. In this century, as in those v/hich had 
passed away, the members of the established hierarchy were 
the only Christian teachers and civilizers among men. 



THE CHUKCH FOUNDED BY CUEIST, ETC. 139 

During the fourteentli and fifteenth centuries still more 
rapid progress was made by the Church in extending the 
truths of Christianity, and in ameliorating the condition of 
men. As her precepts became more universally diffused 
among the amalgamated races of the Old World, and the 
superstitions of paganism and the fallacious philosophies of 
the schools gave way before the beneficent principles of the 
Christian religion, the useful arts made rapid progress, liter- 
ature revived, and especial attention began to be directed 
to subjects and pursuits pertaining to a higher civilization. 
Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and education every- 
where received new impulses ; and popular liberty, which had 
hitherto been repressed by rulers and nobles, began to be 
diffused among the masses of the people. The protracted 
struggles of the priesthood against emperors, kings, and 
nobles, in favor of the common people, had now culminated 
in securing for them a greater amount of liberty, equality, 
prosperity, and happiness. 

Considering the difiiculty of acquiring knowledge, and 
the limited amount possessed by the Christians of these pe- 
riods, until the discovery of printing in 1452, the progress of 
Christianity must be regarded as rapid. Ecclesiastical edi- 
fices and colleges grew up in all directions, and with steadily 
increasing rapi^dity, and new converts from paganism and in- 
fidelity were daily added to the Church. In these centuries, 
as in previous ones, there were some half-converted Chris- 
tians, among them bishops and priests, who did not hesitate 
to violate their sacred obligations, and bring scandal upon 
all connected with them; but the popes and ecclesiastical 
councils were always on the alert to reform all such indi- 
vidual abuses. No efforts have ever been wanting on the 
part of the high ecclesiastical authorities to correct all 
abuses and corruptions which have, from time to time, been 
introduced by bad bishops, priests, and emperors. But let 
it never be forgotten that the authorized doctrines of the 
Church have always remai7ied the same since the days of the 
apostles. Occasionally individuals have tried to alter, per- 



140 CHRISTIANITY AKD ITS CONFLICTS. 

vert, or to add to these sacred and immutable truths, and 
have committed acts derogatory to morals and religion ; but 
their innovations, and their immoralities, have always been 
denounced by the popes and by the councils. 

:N"or were the efforts of the Church daring these three 
centuries confined to Europe. Her missionaries not only 
traversed the most remote parts of Europe, but penetrated 
into the most wild and inhospitable parts of Asia and Africa. 
Even as early as the seventh century these devoted men, in imi- 
tation of their holy predecessors and exemplars, St. Paul, St 
Barnabas, and St. Thomas, sought the very centres ot bar- 
barism to preach Christ crucified. China, Japan, and India 
were all blessed by the presence of these servants of God, 
and their most interior provinces were often enriched by theii- 
martyr-blood during these early ages. According to Bluni- 
hardt, "the monumental stone discovered in 1625, near the 
city of Si-ngan-fou, decisively proves that China was evan- 
gelized before the seventh century." Gibbon also states that 
"the Christianity of China between the seventh and thir- 
teenth centuries is invincibly proved by the consent of Chi- 
nese, Arabian, Syriac, and Latin evidence. In the thirteenth 
century there was already an archbishop at PeMn, who had 
under his jurisdiction four suffragan bishops; and in the 
fourteenth century. Pope Clement the Fifth appointed the 
celebrated Franciscan, John de Monte Corvino, as metro- 
politan." Sir George Staunton estimates the number of 
Christians in China at the present time as more than a mil- 
lion. In 1859 there were fifty-one bishops, six hundred 
and twenty-four priests, and eighteen ecclesiastical colleges. 
Wherever in the known world there were souls to be saved, 
there might be found these Catholic imitators of the first 
apostles— always humbly clad, poorly fed and sheltered, 
pnrseless, homeless, friendless— among heathen, revilers of 
the true God, and haters of Christianity and Christians. .The 
Catholic missionaries have ever continued on in the good 
work, in the midst of stripes, imprisonment, tortures, and 
death ; until, at the present time, they can count more than 



THE CHUECH FOUNDED BY CnEIST, ETC. 141 

a million of native converts in China, twenty-five thousand 
in Japan, and twelve hundred thousand in British India. 
Within the last half century, Protestant sectarians have 
attempted the same thing ; but with all their vast machinery, 
their eno]*raous expenditures, their extensive distribution of 
tracts and Testaments, and their well-paid missionaries, who 
hover around the borders of heathendom, surrounded by 
commercial settlers and national gunboats, they have accojn- 
plished nothing in the way of permanent conversions. The 
Protestant missionary has never deemed it his duty to haz- 
ard his life by cutting loose from the European settlements, 
and plunging into the interior, where detection entails mar- 
tyrdom. He casts his bread upon the waters by distributing 
cargoes of badly-translated tracts and Testaments to ignorant 
and unappreciative Chinese, Japanese, or Brahmins, who, in 
nearly all instances, employ them as wrapping or waste 
paper. These facts are amply corroborated by numerous 
Protestant authorities. 

The apostles and their fellow-missionaries were accus- 
tomed to go personally, 2indL preach and teach the gospel to 
the heathen, braving stripes, imprisonment, and death. They 
never distributed tracts or Testaments, but taught and prac- 
tised their doctrines personally. In all parts of the world 
their Catholic successors have ever imitated them. They 
have plunged into the most hostile and pestilent regions, 
risking all dangers, privations, and martyrdom, in order to 
teach and preach personally the Christian religion. The re- 
sults have been thousands of martyrdoms, and inillions of 
converts. Protestants take no risks of this kind. They go 
only where their persons are safe, distributing, without much 
discrimination, innumerable proselyting documents, not one 
in a thousand of which is ever read. 

Who can contrast the heroism, the privations, the dan- 
gers, and the martyrdoms of Corvino, Xavier, Ricci, Schaal, 
Verbiest, Grimaldi, Pereira, Gerbillon, Bouvet, Gabiani, 
and a host of other Catholic missionaries, who have laid 
down their lives in the interior of China, vv^ith ti.e v^^ell-fed. 



14:2 CnKISTlAlNTITY ANT> ITS CONFLICTS. 

well-clad, well-housed, well-paid, and comfortable Protestant 
missionaries of the European trading settlements, without 
acknowledging that the former are the only true agents and 
representatives of the Church of God? Who can witness 
the results of each class of laborers — more than a million of 
Catholic converts, and scarcely a score of Protestant ones — 
and not know which was of the Church of Christ, and which 
of the profane sects of men ? What has been said respecting 
Catholic missions in China, applies with equal truth to almost 
every barbarous nation in the world. 

When St. Paul entered upon his missionary career he 
became " all things to all men ; " for, says he, "If meat scan- 
dalize my brother, I will never eat flesh ; " and again, " all 
things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient ; " 
and again, when he entered Jerusalem to convert the Jews, he 
shaved his head in accordance with their own custom, in order 
to adapt himself as much as possible to their ways and harm- 
less prejudices. Catholic missionaries have always followed 
in the footsteps of their inspired exemplar, and made it a 
rule to adapt themselves as much as possible to the customs 
and habits of those to whom they were sent, provided that 
they violated no divine precept by so doing. Aware of the 
impossibility of breaking down the thoughts, ideas, tradi- 
tions, and habits of many generations, and, by a coup de 
main, of substituting a new code of principles and a new 
mode of life, the apostles of Catholicism have always con- 
fined their first labors among the heathen to the dissemina- 
tion of correct views concerning God, the atonement, and 
spiritual life. If the heathen flock were wild nomads, the 
missionary also became a nomad, and shared in the dangers 
and privations of the rude wanderers. Among the Brah- 
mins of India, who were tenacious of the distinctions and 
privileges of their high caste, the early missionaries recog- 
nized and respected these claims, adapted themselves to their 
harmless social peculiarities, but urged upon them a new and 
Christian spiritual law. In this manner did Father Francis 
Xavier, Robert de ISTobili, De Britto, and Laynez impress 



ETC. 143 

the proud Brahmins, and gradually convert large numbers 
of them to the religion of Christ. By similar means were 
the natives of Mexico converted by Las Casas, the savage 
tribes of North America by BricAcourt, Biart, Alloez, Mar- 
quette, Brebeuf, Jogues, and Goupil ; the Chinese and Japan- 
ese by Ricci, Schaal, Yerbiest, and their associates. 

How admirably do these missionary enterprises prove 
the identity of the Catholic Church with that instituted by 
our Saviour and His apostles ! In a future chapter we shall 
present some interesting statistics upon this subject. 

We come now to the question respecting the true inter- 
pretation and meaning of the Scrijotures ; and we shall present 
a few of the leading arguments of the Church in opposition 
to independent private judgment in explaining the mysteries 
of Holy Writ, and to the reasons which have been adduced 
by Protestants in favor of private interpretation. 

1. The Church claims that Christ when on earth, founded 
a Church, with His apostles and their successors as its au- 
thorized ministers — that He committed to these authorized 
ministers the custody and perpetuation of the precepts and 
practices which Pie had taught by oral words, and that, just 
before His ascension He appointed St. Peter as the head 
bishop of this Church, with the power of the keys. These 
doctrines were all taught and explained to the apostles orally^ 
and they were commanded to go into all the Avorld and ex- 
plain orally to every creature the same doctrines, commit- 
ting them again to other faithful men, who should continue 
the work of preaching and teaching orally the same doc- 
trines. According to St. John, these doctrines of our Saviour 
were so numerous that it was impossible to commit them to 
writing, for, says the apostle, " And there are also many 
other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be 
loritten every one, I sujjpose that even the world itself could 
not contain the books that should be written. Amen." * 

From this assertion of St. John, the conclusion is inevita- 
ble that he entertained the opinion that a portion of the 
* John xxi. 25. 



144: CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

teacliings and practices of Christ must necessarily Ibe trans- 
mitted by the Church and her ministers orally from genera- 
tion to generation, and that faithful men of the Church, un- 
der the promised aid and cfirection of the Spirit of God, must 
continue to the end of the world to preach, teach, and ex- 
plain all things whatsoever, written and mi written, which 
had been committed to them. 

2. Nearly eyery Christian writer, during the first five cen- 
turies after Christ, gives testimony that the Church was the 
only recognized depository and interpreter of both the writ- 
ten Scriptures and the unwritten words and deeds of Jesus 
alluded to by John. In the sacred and God-defended bosom 
of this Church were contained all of the truths which our 
blessed Saviour had revealed to man. From apostle to apos- 
tle, from bishop to bishop, from priest to priest, from disciple 
to disciple were the words which Christ uttered, and the deeds 
which He performed, transmitted within and under the sole 
direction of the only Church of God then in existence. The 
sum of these words and deeds, confided only to this Church, 
guarded and retained only by this Church, constituted the 
only real and universal religion of God on earth for a period 
of nearly fifteen hundred years. A part of these words and 
deeds were the written Scriptures of the apostles . and 
their holy predecessors, and a part the recorded tradi- 
tions of the successors of the apostles— the only recognized 
representatives of Christ on ^ earth. As ages rolled on, 
here and there a visionary and irresponsible enthusiast 
would make a suggestion, or attempt an innovation, but for 
the most part they were too insignificant, or their innova- 
tions too absurd, to attract serious or general attention. A 
reference to the schismatic puerilities of the early centuries 
will demonstrate their unscriptural and anti-christian char- 
acter. We desire to impress indelibly upon the minds and 
consciences of men the great fact, that the divine legacy be- 
queathed by Christ to men — the sacred Scriptures and tra- 
ditions of God's visible Church — were .vf ritten in the records 
of the Church by the hands of Catholic priests, were passed 



THE CHUSCH FOUNDED BY CHEIST, ETC. 145 

from generation to generation by Catholics, and that the 
same Scriptures and same traditions are still in the same 
Church, while 2. part only of the legacy — the written Scrip- 
tures — has been appropriated by modern Protestants. In 
view of this vital fact, it is pertinent to inquire, where y/ould 
modern Protestantism have been if the Almighty in His prov- 
idence had, during the first fifteen centuries of the Christian 
era, extinguished the Roman Catholic Church and its sacred 
trusts ? Where would have been the Bible ? Where would 
have been the numberless sects, creeds, dissensions, and pri- 
vate interpretations of Holy Writ which now distract and 
divide the Christian world ? Where w^ould have been the 
creed of the Church of England, if Henry VHI. had not 
forced into his service Wolsey, Cranmer, and other Roman 
Catholics, and the liturgy of the Catholic Church ? Where 
would have been Lutheranism, Calvinism, and other sects, if 
these apostate members of the Catholic Church had not pur- 
loined from the Church of Rome a portion of her sacred 
records for purposes of sacrilegious perversion and schism ? 
Where now would have been any Christian religion, if the 
Roman Catholic Church had been extinguished at any period 
during the first fifteen centuries after Christ ? 

Belief that the Scriptures are the written word of God, 
intended for the instruction and guidance of men, is, indeed, 
common to nearly all Christendom; but unfortunately the 
fruits of this belief are not always beneficent. During the 
earthly mission of our Saviour, and for many centuries after 
His ascension, the art of printing was unknown. Necessity 
and universal custom therefore required that all important 
civil and religious laws should be preserved and perpetuated 
either in icritten ma7iuscripts copied by scribes, or by un~ 
ivritten traditions. From the earliest periods down to the 
discovery of printing, by far the greater proportion of civil 
law remained wiioritten, and was handed down orally from 
generation to generation. These traditional maxims have 
always been recognized and designated as the '-^ eo^nmon 
law ; " and even at the present time we find the same un- 
7 



146 CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

written " common law," both in England and America. In 
England these laws have existed from time immemorial, and 
have for the most part been preserved without alteration. 
The few alterations which appear, have been made in conse- 
quence of social and political changes, and by competent 
judicial tribunals or councils. These laws are founded on 
principles of eternal justice, and have always been regarded 
as higher legal authority, and more entitled to respect, than 
luritten statute laws. 

In like manner many of the laws of God have been pre- 
served and transmitted from generation to generation by un- 
written traditions. Many of the precepts and practices of the 
ancient Jews were passed orally from one period to another, 
and this oral transmission has continued with this pecuhar 
people up to the present time. 

From repeated declarations of our Saviour, it is evident 
that He relied chiefly upon oral transmission for the preserva- 
tion and perpetuation of His doctrines. Thus, in his various 
charges to His apostles. He repeatedly commands them to 
preach the gospel to all nations, teaching them orally those 
things which they have heard from, and been tauglU by Him. 
Just before His ascension He intimated to His disciples that, 
although they had heard many things from Him, and been 
taught many things, yet there were many things which they 
could not yet hear or understand. But for their «onsolation 
He promised to send down upon them, after His arrival in 
heaven, the Paraclete which should teaeh them all truth, and 
which should continue to instruct and sustain them and their 
successors in the preservation and perpetuation of the truths 
of God until the end of the world. Had Christ intended that 
all of His laws should be handed down to the end of the 
world in loritten statutes^ He would, doubtless, have signified 
it in some manner. If such had been His intention. He 
would not have deemed it requisite at the day of Pentecost 
to send down His Holy Spirit to lead the disciples into all 
truth, to inspire them with additional knowledge, courage, 
and religious devotion, and to continue with the priests of 



THE CIIUECH FOUNDED BY CHKIST, ETC. 147 

the Church as their spiritual instructor and guardian until 
the consummation of days. 

The following passages of Scripture demonstrate clearly 
that the written Scriptures contain only a part of His teach- 
ings, but that many of His truths must be explained and 
transmitted orally by the authorized bishops and priests of 
the Church : " Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the 
tradition ye have been taught, whether by word or oui' 
epistle^^'^ In this passage St. Paul expressly directs the 
brethren to cling to what they have received in writing^ and 
have heard from the mouths of their pastors. He does not 
say that the written Scriptures are the only rule of faith, as 
do modern Protestants, but he exhorts his disciples to hold 
fast also to the tradition which he had spol-cen to them. 
" The things that thou hast heard of me among many wit- 
nesses, the same commit thou to those faithful men who shall 
be able to teach others also." f When Paul addressed these 
remarks to Timothy, he did not intend that Timothy should 
write out what he had heard, and send it to the people in 
manuscript so that each person could make an interpretation 
as his fancy might dictate, but he ordered him to commit it 
orally to other faithful men who should ^reac/i and teach the 
same to others. " Now we command you, brethren, in the 
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye w^ithdraw your- 
selves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not 
after the tradition which he received of us." \ Christ com- 
manded His apostles to go into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature ; teaching them to repent, confess, and 
be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all the things 
whatsoever He had commanded them ; and promising to be 
with them all days, even to the end of the world. Our 
Saviour did not command them to go and leave with the na- 
tions written manuscripts concerning the things He had taught 
them, but to preach and to explain to them orally His truths. 
The command and the promise evidently applied to the suc- 

* 2 Thess. V. 13. f 2 Tim. ii. 2. :j: 2 Thess. iii. 6. 



148 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

cessors of the apostles as well as to themselves, since Jesus 
is to be with them all days^ even to the end of the world. 
He is to be with them in their preaching and teaching^ as 
well as in their written Scriptures, always. Here is a dis- 
tinct avowal that Scripture and tradition go hand in hand, 
that the successors of the apostles are to act as the custodians 
and interpreters of both, and that the Almighty, by means 
of His Holy Spirit, will instruct them and keep them in all 
truth. 

As the " common law " of different nations was founded 
on principles of natural or self-evident justice, for the con- 
servation of civil and social order, and has been transmitted 
by oral tradition through many centuries ; so was the tradi- 
tional or common lav/ of the Church founded on principles 
of natural, self-evident, and eternal truths, derived from 
heavenly inspirations, for the spiritual welfare of the human 
race, and has also been transmitted by oral tradition from 
the days of the apostles to the present time. As the " com- 
mon" or unwritten civil laws precede, regulate, explain, and 
sustain all statute or written laws, so do the traditional or 
unwritten laws of the Church precede, verify, explain, and 
sustain the written Scriptures. As the common and unwritten 
civil laws were in practical operation long before the exist- 
ence of any written or statute laws, so were the sacred tradi- 
tions of the Church in practical operation and recognized as 
the unwritten word of God long before the existence of the 
written gospels. As St. Ignatius has truly observed, " The 
religion and the Church of Christ would have been preserved 
and perpetuated by tradition, if the apostles had never com- 
mitted their gosj)el3 to writing." 

From these facts it is evident that the traditions of the 
Church and the Scriptures are equally the word of God, and 
equally authoritative ; and that the former are the only safe 
guides in the interpretation of the latter, and of the mysteries 
of religion. 

The following brief extracts from the writings of the 
early fathers and martyrs clearly demonstrate the fact tliat 



THE CnUECII rOUOT)ED BY CHEIST, ETC. 149 

the Church was the only custodian and interpreter of the 
holy precepts which our Saviour left behind Him as the rule 
of faith and practice of mankind : 

In an epistle to the Church of Rome, St. Ignatius, a friend 
and companion of the apostles, writes as follows : " To the 
Church .... which presides in the place of the country of 
the Romans, all-godly, all-gracious, all-hlessed, all-praised, 
all-prospering, all-hallowed, and presiding in love with the 
name of Christ, with the name of the Father." * " Be sub- 
ject to your bishops as to Jesus Christ." " Follow your bish- 
ops as Jesus Christ the Father ; the Presbytery as the apos- 
tles ; reverence the deacons as the ordinance of God." 

St. Polycarp, another disciple and friend of the apostles, 
having some doubts respecting the proper time for observing 
Easter, " came to Rome," according to Eusebius, " in the 
time of Auicetus's episcopate, and conferred with him upon 
the question." The decision of Anicetus was recognized as 
binding by St. Polycarp. 

St. Irens8us, the disciple of St. Polycarp, writes as fol- 
lows : " We appeal to the faith and traditions of the greatest, 
and most ancient, and universally-laiown Chu.rch, which was 
founded and constituted at Rome by Peter and Paul — that 
tradition which it holds from the apostles, and that faith 
which is proclaimed to men through successions. of bishops 
coming down to us ; — and so we confound all those who in 
any way, whether through depraved self-will or vainglory, or 
through blindness and perverse judgment, come to erroneous 
conclusions. For with this Church, because of its higher 
original, it is essential that every church should agree — that 
is, the faithful from all quarters ; and in this Church by the 
faithful generally apostolic tradition has all along been pre- 
served." Again, 1. " Tradition must determine controver- 
sies." 2. " The Catholic Church has kept the traditions de- 
livered by all the apostles." 3. " By Roman tradition we 
confound all heretics." 4. " Rome is the greatest Church — 
and the most ancient — not literally in time, for that would 
* Ep. ad Rom. Sup. 



^50 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

not be true, but in dignity^ because of its higher original — 
because it was the mother of all— that out of which all au- 
thority springs ; and because of its foundation by the great 
apostles St. Peter and St. Paul." 

This is the testimony of a man who was a pupil of one 
who had listened to the preaching and received the instruc- 
tions of St. John the apostle, and who was martyred in the 
service of Jesus of :N"azareth. Is it not presumptuous to pro- 
test against the testimony of these friends and pupils of the 
apostles of Christ ? 

Sozomen, in writing about the consubstantiality of the 
Holy Ghost, remarks : " This dispute having arisen, and, as 
was natural, gathering strength from day to day, through 
men's love of strife, the Bishop of Eome, when informed of 
it, wrote to the churches of the East, that they should ac- 
knowledge the Trinity, one in substance and in glory, to- 
gether with the bishops of the West. Whereupon they all 
acquiesced, the question being 07icefor all decided h^the Church 
of Home, and the dispute to all appearance was brought to 
a close." 

St. Gregory JSTazianzen writes : " The faith of old Rome was 
right from the beginning, and she continues right, Unding 
loith holy honds every nation under the sun^ as well becomes 
the president of the whole worldJ'^ * 

St. Ambrose says : " Let the creed of the apostles be be- 
lieved, which the Roman Church always keeps and preserves 
inviolate.''^ f 

St. Augustine observes : " For what could that holy man 
(St. Innocent) answer to the African councils, unless what 
from ancient times the apostolic see a7id the Roman Church 
perseveringly holds ? " J " In these words of the apostolic see, 
so ancient and established, certain and clear is the Catholic 
faith." § 

Our limited space only admits of a few extracts from the 
writings of the early Fathers; but these are fair samples of 

* Ex. lib. de vita sua. f Council of Milan, iv. 116, B. 

:}: Ibid. X. 503, G. § Ibid. x. 418, D. 



THE CHUECH FOUNDED BY CHKIST, ETC. 151 

tlie opinions entertained by nearly every reputable ecclesias- 
tical writer during tbe fii^t fifteen centuries of tbe Christian 
era. First, we have the testimony of the pupils and com- 
panions of the apostles themselves respecting the divine 
origin and the authority of the Koman Catholic Church, and 
the supremacy of her bishops, and the interpretation of the 
Scriptures. Among these are Ignatius, Polycarp, Clement, 
and Irenffius, N"ext, we have the evidence,' to the same pur- 
port, of the disciples and friends of these pupils of the apos- 
tles; and so on from period to period down to the present 
day. Thousands of writers, scattered throughout the whole 
world, and contemporaneous with every Bishop of Rome, have 
borne witness that the Catholic Church is the only true 
Church of God, designated in Holy Writ ; and that the inter- 
pretations and decisions of this Church are binding on all 
Christians as the Heaven'-born, Heaven-inspired, and Heaven- 
protected institution of Christ. 

The written and unwritten truths of God have always 
been sacredly preserved within the Catholic Church. But 
whenever any questions have arisen respecting the proper in- 
terpretation and significance of any portion of these truths, 
councils have been convened, composed of the most learned 
and holy men of difierent periods, for the purpose of discuss- 
ing and deciding these mooted points. N'o private inspira- 
tion, no dogmatic dictum of an individual, no single judg- 
ment has ever settled definitely and authoritatively any 
doubtful question pertaining to the Church; but vast assem- 
bHes of intellectual, pious, and erudite men, after open dis- 
cussions and deliberations for weeks, and sometimes months 
and years, have sifted the wheat from the chaff, and thus 
preserved the precepts of Christ as they were delivered to 
the apostles. All of the councils of the Church have been 
simply reformatory assemblies, called together by different 
Bishops of Rome, for the express purpose of elucidating and 
explaining doubtful points of doctrine and discipline, and for 
correcting errors and abuses which have been accidentally 
or designedly introduced by theologians. One of the argu- 



152 



CHEISTIAKITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 



ments wMcli have been urged against Catliolicism is that some 
of her bishops and other dignitaries have been. wicked men, 
and have originated and sanctioned sinful and ungodly prac- 
tices. But neither the words nor the acts of a man or of 
any number of men, even if they be priests, can change the 
recorded decrees of the Almighty. As St. Paul, in his epistle 
to the Galatians, remarks : " But though we, or an angel 
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that 
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 
As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach 
any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let 
him be accursed." * 

In opposition to these Heaven-born and Heaven-preserved 
records of the Church, and the deliberate decisions of nearly 
all the holy men and of the ecclesiastical councils of the 
world up to the sixteenth century, individuals have here and 
there presented themselves as protesters against the estab- 
lished doctrines, and set up in their stead creeds of their own, 
designating them by and dignifying them with their own 
names. Thus, Montanus protested " that the Holy Spirit 
having failed to save mankind by Moses, and afterward by 
Christ, had enlightened and sanctified him 'to aocomplisli 
this great work." In this way the sect of Montanists came 
into existence. Arian protested against the Holy Trinity, 
and taught that Christ was not equal to the Father, but 
simply a great high-priest and prophet. Thus originated the 
Protestant sect of Ariaiis. Manicheus protested against all 
church authority, and taught that every man should rely 
upon his own private judgment in matters of religion ; that 
his only rule of faith should be the Bible, and that he should ' 
be his own private interpreter of the Scriptures. Thus arose 
the sect oi ManicJieans. Donatus, Pelagius, Celestius, Euty- 
ches, and numerous other protesting individuals, have, at 
different epochs, sprung up, and invented man-creeds and 
man-sects to glorify themselves, rather than to serve the 
cause of God. As our observations respecting the more 
* Gal. i. 8, 9. 



THE CHUECH FOUNDED BY CHEIST, ETC. 153 

modern sects of Protestants will be somewhat extended, we 
refer the reader to a future chapter. We simply allude to 
the subject here to show the distractions and sectarian divi- 
sions into which Protestants fall who rely on private judg- 
ment in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. 

It is impossible to examine impartially the doctrines and 
ordinances taught and practised by Jesus and His apostles, 
and to compare them critically with those which have always 
been held and practised by the Church of Rome, without 
recognizing their identity. The circumstances connected 
vfith the promulgation and perpetuation of these doctrines 
and observances fully establish the truth of this identity. 
Surely no one should presume to assert that this divinely 
instituted Church has ever ceased to exist, to be operative, 
and to be visible, when the Spirit of Almighty God has al- 
ways been its special guardian and preserver. When Christ 
sent His apostolic organization among the nations to preach 
the gospel. He told them of the dangers, the hardships, and 
the opposition they would have to encounter in their mis- 
sionary operations ; but He urged upon them the necessity of 
unity of faith and action, and an avoidance of false teachers, 
flilse prophets, and false doctrines. Sustained by a special and 
divine agency, and encouraged by the positive promise of 
Jesus, it is not probable that these men would become false 
teachers, or that the Church committed to their guardian- 
ship would become corrupted or perverted. 

Christ and His apostolic organization, as well as the 
ecclesiastical organizations appointed and ordained by the 
apostles and their successors, have always taught and 
preached the doctrines of Christianity personally. They 
have always visited the heathen in person, instructed them 
in person, and subjected themselves to all the perils incident 
to the true missionary career. The first missions of Christ, 
of St. Paul, St. Barnabas, St. Thomas, and the other apostles, 
and the subsequent missions of their Catholic successors to all 
parts of the heathen world, have been conducted on precisely 
the same principles, and with similar happy results. The 



154 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

history of missions, from the days of the apostles to the pres- 
ent time, demonstrates conclusively the identity of the Catho- 
lic Church with that founded by Christ. 

After His resurrection Christ appeared to His apostles 
and saluted them thus : " Peace be to you. As the Father 
hath sent Me, I also send you. When He had said this, He 
breathed on them ; and He said to them, Receive ye the 
Holy Ghost ; whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven 
them ; and whose sins ye shall retain, they are retained." * 
Afterward, when the apostles were assembled together to 
receive His final instructions, He selected from their number 
— not Andrew, or Paul, or James, or Barnabas, or Matthew — 
but Peter, and thus addressed him : " Thou art Peter ; and 
upon this rock will I build My Church, and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it ; and unto thee, Peter, will I give 
the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou 
shalt bind on earth, it shall be bound also in heaven ; and 
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also 
in heaven." f During the forty days which elapsed from the 
resurrection to the ascension of the Saviour, He founded His 
Church, organized His apostles into an ecclesiastical socie- 
ty of ministers and missionaries, with Peter as its head, 
" opened their understandings that they might understand the 
Scriptures,^'' J and then gave them their final instructions as 
follows: "All things whatsoever I have heard of My Father 
I have made known to you." § " As the Father hath sent 
Me, I also send you." || " Going, therefore, teach all nations ; 
. . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you." ^ " He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be con- 
demned." ** " He that heareth you, heareth Me ; " f f and 
" If he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the 
heathen and the publican." XI 

* John sx. 21-23. f Matt. xvi. 18, 19. 

X Luke xxiv. 45. § John xr. 15. 

II John XX. 21. ^ Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 

** Mark xvi. 16. f f Luke x. 16. 

XX Matt, xviii. 11, 



THE CHUECH FOUKBED BY CHEIST, ETC. 155 

Here we have a divinely instituted Church, a divinely 
appointed ecclesiastical organization, and a definite code of 
instructions from Jesus Himself. 

After the ascension, the inspired apostles and their author- 
ized disciples assumed the executive control of the Church, 
gradually extended and perfected its organization, and dis- 
persed themselves among the nations as bishops, priests, 
missionaries, and teachers. These inspired men fully appre- 
ciated the importance of the unity of the Church, and of an 
authorized society of ministers to interpret the Scriptures, 
teach their doctrines, preserve all the written and unvfrit- 
ten records relating to the mission of Christ, and to act as 
i-epresentatives and pastors of Christ on earth. Alluding to 
this Church, St. Paul terms it " the Church of the living 
God, which is the pillar and ground of truth." * That the 
guardianship of this Church and the integrity of its doc- 
trines were committed to the ecclesiastical organization, is 
evident from the following extracts : " N'o prophecy of Scrip- 
ture is of private interpretation." f " He that heareth you 
heareth Me." J " Remember your prelates who have spoken 
the word of God to you ; i^liose faith follow:' § " For the 
lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek 
the law at his mouth ; because he is the angel of the Lord of 
hosts." I " Obey your prelates, and be subject to them ; for 
they watch, as being to render an account of your souls." ^ 
"Let every soul be subject to higher powers; for there «is no 
power but from God ; and those that are, are ordained of God ; 
and they that resist purchase to themselves damnation." ** 
" And the things which thou hast heard of me by many wit- 
nesses, the same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit 
to teach others also." ff And when Paul gave Titus his in- 
structions, he said to him : " For this cause I left thee in Crete 
that thou shouldst ordain priests in every city, as I also 

* 1 Tim. iii. 15. f 2 Pet. i. 20. 

X Luke X. 16. § Heb. xviii. '7, 17. 

II Mai. ii. n. t Seb. xiii. 17. 

** Rom. xiii. 1, 2. • ft 2 Tim. ii. 2. 



156 CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

appointed thee." * " For Christ, therefore, we are ambassa- 
dors, God as it were exhorting by us." f " The Holy Ghost 
hath appointed you bishops to rule the Church of God." l 

St. Ignatius, a personal friend and companion of several 
of the apostles, enjoined upon the people the following du- 
ties : " Be subject to your bishops as to Jesus Christ. Fol- 
low your bishop as Jesus Christ the Father; the presbytery 
as the apostles ; reverence the deacons as the ordinance of 
God." This father was a pupil and intimate friend of St. 
James the apostle, and had listened to the preaching of sev- 
eral other apostles. Is it likely that he was mistaken in his 
ideas of the Christian priesthood, or in the nature of the 
sacerdotal office ? 

St. Cyprian thus writes : " God is one, and Christ is one, 
and the Church is one, and the choir is one, founded upon 
Peter by the voice of the Lord. Another altar cannot be 
erected, or another priesthood established, except this one 
altar and one priesthood. Whoever gathers elsewhere, scat- 
ters. It is adulterous, and impious, and sacrilegious, what- 
ever is set up by human madness to violate the divine insti- 
tution." § 

St. Augustine writes: "Whoso is separated from the 
Catholic Church, however laudably he thinks he is living, by 
this crime alone, that he is separated from Chrisfs unity, he 
shall not have life, but the wrath of God abideth in him." 

St. Clement, the third pope from the apostles, says : " We 
received the gospel from the apostles ; they were sent by 
Jesus Christ ; Jesus Christ was sent by God ; and both hap- 
pened agreeably to the will of God. . . . Our apostles knew, 
through Jesus Christ, that disputes concerning episcopacy 
would arise ; wherefore they appointed those of whom I have 
spoken, and thus established the series of future succession, 
that when they should die, other approved men might enter 
on their ministry." || 

* Tit. 1-5. f 2 Cor. v. 20. 

:j; Acts xx. 28. § Ep. xl. 

II Aid of Cath., vol. i., p. 15. 



THE CHUECH FOUNDED BY CHEIST, ETC. 157 

Protestants have always striven to make improvements 
in the religion of the early fathers, and have preferred to fol- 
low their own private hj^potheses, rather than be guided by 
the long-established principles of those who received their 
instructions from Christ and the apostles. Upon this subject 
St. Vincent of Lirins remarks : "But peradventure some will 
say, Shall we then have no advancement of religion in the 
Church of Christ ? Surely let us have the greatest that may 
5e, yet in such sort that it may be truly an increase in faith, 
and not a changed 

In committing His Church to the special care of the apos- 
tles and their successors, Christ also included the custody of 
the written Scriptures, the unwritten traditions, and all of 
the divine ordinances and observances. Thus, after His last 
supper, Jesus said to His apostles, " I have yet many things 
to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. . But when 
He, the Spirit of Truth, is come. He will teach you all truth. 
For He shall not speak of Himself ; because He shall receive 
of Mine, and shall show it you." ^ "I will ask the Father, 
and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide 
with you forever, the Spirit of truth. ... He shall abide with 
you, and shall be in you." f 

From these declarations it is evident that Christ estab- 
lished a single Church, endowed it v/ith all truth, with a 
single and definite code of principles and observances, and 
with a priesthood who were to be its special guardians, dis- 
pensers, and perpetuators. As the written Scriptures were 
only a part of the divine legacy, a Church and an authorized 
ecclesiastical corporation were absolutely necessary to secure 
the preservation and the integrity of the unwritten traditions, 
and of the "many other things which Jesus did," not to be 
found in books. In po other manner could all the sacred 
teachings of Jesus have been preserved and transmitted 
through so many centuries. And we may be quite certain 
that the holy records and commandments of God have been 
preserved within the Church in their original purity, from 

* John xvi. 12-14. f John xiv. 16, lY. 



158 CimiSTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

the fact that " the Spirit of truth has.always abided in it and 
taught it all truth according to the divine promise." This 
Heavenly influence has undoubtedly been ever present in the 
great ecclesiastical councils of the Church, to aid the faithful 
ambassadors of Christ in their efforts to exclude error, and 
to preserve the truth ; and where the Spirit of truth is, error 
and falsehood fly away. 

In accordance with these principles, and with a view of 
preserving the unity of the Church, it has been the universal 
custom to refer all mooted points of doctrine, and all indi- 
vidual corruptions and abuses within the Church, to ecclesi- 
astical councils. These councils have always been composed 
^ of large numbers of the most learned, pious, and able bishops 
and prelates of the world, and their decisions have always 
been regarded as authoritative. Whenever individuals have 
endeavored to pervert the true signification of the Scriptures, 
and to found sects upon these perversions, the pontiffs have 
been in the habit of convening ecclesiastical councils to ex- 
amine, discuss, and correct erroneous conclusions, and to de- 
fine and preserve in their canons the Christian truths as they 
came from Jesus Christ. Thus were the personal innovations 
of Montanus, Donatus, ISTovatian, Arian, and a host of early 
Protestants disposed of, and the unity of the Church main- 
tained. 

The advocates of private interpretation, and of what has 
been flippantly termed "freedom of conscience," tell us that 
every man is competent to interpret the mysteries of the 
gospel ; and, therefore, that each individual, however ignorant 
or obtuse, should read his Bible, analyze its sacred mysteries,' 
boldly cope with the idiomatic and other peculiarities of an 
Oriental era, of ideas originally expressed in various languages 
abounding in figures, parables, and the like, and then form 
his conclusions, and act in accordance with them. Is such a 
course calculated to secure unity of faith, harmony among 
Christians, uniformity and consistency in worship, and con- 
cert of action among those who desire to build up the Church 
of the living God ? Let the innumerable and conflicting sects 



THE CHTJECH FOUNDED BY CIIKIST, ETC. 169 

of modern Protestantism, their absurd and contradictory 
tenets, and the numerous ,and protracted religious wars 
among the sectarians of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and 
eighteenth centuries answer. 

The great masses of the Christian world are endowed - 
with a limited amount of knowledge, and with limited intel- 
lectual capacities. For the most part their energies are ab- 
sorbed by their ordinary worldly pursuits, so that they have 
neither the time nor the inclination to become private theolo- 
gians. Practically, therefore, in Protestant countries, they 
accept a Huss, a Wickliffe, a Luther, a Calvin, a Wesley, a 
Fox, a Henry YIII, a Voltaire, a Tom Paine, a Strauss, a 
Renan, a Theodore Parker, a Joe Smith, or a Brigham Young, 
as their interpreters of Holy Writ, and enroll themselves under 
the standard of some one of these creed-coiners. In this man- 
ner they become passive instruments in the hands of these 
" false teachers," and thus contribute to impair the unity of 
the faith, to divide and distract Christendom, and to en- 
courage the various forms of infidelity. Are the private and 
individual interpretations of these leading sectaries,^ or^ of 
their ignorant disciples, to be regarded as authoritative, 
while the decisions of the great councils, some of them com- 
posed of as many as five hundred of the wisest and best pre- 
lates of the world, and holding their sessions for years in 
SLiccession, are to be ignored and despised? Surely there 
can be but few men so lost to all sense of honesty and decency 
as to claim seriously that an ignorant laborer is as capable 
of interpreting and understanding the Holy Bible as were 
the three hundred and eighteen learned fathers of Nice, or 
the five hundred of Chalcedon, or the three hundred of Trent. 
What have been the results of this authoritative interpreta- 
tion of the Scriptures by the councils of the Church ? Unity 
and uniformity of faith, of ecclesiastical organization, of wor- 
ship, and in the propagation of the Christian religion. And 
what have been the results of private inspiration and private 
interpretation ? Innumerable variations of religious belief, a 
vast multiplication of conflicting sects, a house divided against 



160 CIIRISTlAlSriTY AND ITS CONITLICTS. 

itself, and an entire lack of that unity, concord, and concert 
of action which pertain to the true Church of God. One 
of many facts in proof of this position consists in the total 
failure of Protestant missionary enterprises in all parts of the 
world, and the sad results, in tlie form of immorality, decep- 
tion, crime, and general decay, which have almost invariably 
attended these labors. In worldly affairs Protestants never 
presume to act without competent advice. They never com- 
promise their pecuniary interests, or their lives, by becoming 
their own private interpreters and practitioners of law or 
medicine. Both the legal and the medical gospels are before 
them, written by modern authors, in clear and explicit lan- 
guage ; but they have too much practical common-sense to 
attempt their interpretation, preferring always to employ ex- 
pert lawyers and doctors, to accept their interpretations, and 
to act in accordance with their advice. Were an ignorant 
laborer or artisan to read a book on the theory and practice of 
medicine, and then assume the medical treatment of typhus 
or cholera, he would be shut up in a mad-house, or indicted 
for manslaughter. Such an act would excite the indignation 
and horror of every right-minded man ; but let the same 
person* turn theologian, and, with Bible in hand, interpret 
the mysteries of godliness, and prescribe for his spiritual 
being, and his assurance is winked at, and his decisions are 
esteemed legitimate and worthy of practical adoption, what- 
ever they may be. JSTo Protestant will presume to assert 
that Christ established more than 07ie Church, more than one 
priesthood, more than one religious code^ more than one form 
and mode of worship. IS^o rational person can believe that 
Christ gave a general permission to all men indiscriminately 
to interpret the Scriptures, to retain or to reject certain por- 
tions, to determine what traditions are true and what false, 
and upon these private oi3inions to found new churches, new 
priesthoods, new creeds, and new forms of worship. ]^o 
one can suppose that Christ intended that there should be 
divisions, wranglings, and distractions in His Church. No 
one can imagine that he is doing God service by aiding in 



THE CHUECH FOUNDED BY_ CUEIST, ETC. 161 

the destruction of Churcli unity, in the estaltlisliment of new 
sects, and in presenting to the world the sad spectacle of the 
house of God distracted, perverted, torn, and arrayed against 
itself. Does any one believe that Christ failed in His solemn 
promise of being with His one Church, and maintaining it in 
its purity, through the abiding presence of the Spirit of truth, 
during the fifteen hundred years preceding the wicked inno- 
vations of Luther and Calvin ? Did the Almighty postpone 
the development of His grand plan of redemption until 
the sixteenth century, waiting for Martin Luther to be 
born, in order to unravel, explain, and bring into practical 
operation the sacred mysteries which Christ, the apostles, 
and their successors, had vainly attempted to introduce? 
"Were the holy apostles, the ancient fathers, the hosts of 
martyrs, and the Christian missionaries of the past, failures? 
and was Christ's Church hidden under a bushel until the 
monk of Erfurth dragged Christianity from her profound sleep 
of so many ages under the form and designation — not of 
Christianity, not of the religion of Jesus, not of catholicity — 
but of lAitheranismf St. Clement, St. Polycarp, and St. 
Ignatius, were pupils of the apostles, had often conversed 
with them, and heard them preach. These men recognized 
the Roman Catholic Church as the only Church of God, the 
supremacy of the Roman bishop, and the divine authority of 
the ecclesiastical body to act as conservators and interpreters 
of the written and unwritten word of God. Were these 
friends and disciples of the apostles mistaken; and were their 
successors through whom these truths were transmitted from 
generation to generation for so many centuries, like Saints 
Irenssus, Origen, Cyprian, Cyril, Hilary, Basil, Ambrose, 
Jerome, Chrysostom, Augustine, Vincent, and a host of other 
holy fathers — were they all mistaken, and was the light of 
the true Church latent and unproductive from the days of 
the apostles to the days of the innovators, and was it re- 
served to a demon-inspired Augustine monk of the sixteenth 
century to present to mankind the new dispensation which 
Jesus, His inspired apostles, and their successors had tried. 



162 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

but failed to make known ? Is it probable that the Almighty 
Father would send His only-begotten Son to earth, to an- 
nounce a new gospel, and to found a Church, and then to 
permit an organized hierarchy to set aside this gospel and 
this Church, and to substitute in their stead a false religion 
and a false church ? When the all-merciful God became in- 
carnate on earth, and suffered and died to atone for the sins of 
men, is it probable that He had any special reference to Martin 
Luther, John Calvin, or John of Ley den, or John Wesley, or 
Tom Paine, or other modern revolutionist, in the consumma- 
tion of the grand design ? If so, were Luther's interviews 
and discussions with the devil at the Castle of Warburg, or his 
revels at the "Black Eagle Tavern" at Guttenburg, or his 
violation of the nun, Catherine Bore, or the bloody civil 
wars he incited in Germany included in the programme ? 

Whoever examines thoroughly and fairly the legitimate 
doctrines of the Catholic Church, as inculcated in the de- 
crees and canons of the great ecclesiastical Councils, from 
Aries to Trent, and compares them with those taught by 
Christ and His apostles, must admit their identity in every 
tiling essential to salvation. Such an examination and com- 
parison, impartially and boldly conducted, would restore 
thousands of doubting sectarians into-the fold of unity and 
spiritual peace. 



CHAPTEE XIY. 

COMMON GROUNDS OF RELIGIOUS FAITH, 

On many occasions Christ and His inspired apostles al- 
luded to the vital importance of unity of faith and of Chris- 
tian worship, and to the great dangers which would ensue 
from divisions in the Church. , We cite a few quotations in 
illustration : " And He gave some apostles, and other some 
pastors and doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, for the 
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 
until we all meet into the unity of faith ; that hence- 
forth we be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried 
about by every wind of doctrine." * " 'Now I beseech you, 
brethren, to mark them who cause dissensions, contrary to 
the doctrines you have learned, and to avoid them." f St. 
T SkVil pro7iou7iced cmathema "against any one, even against 
an angel from heaven, who should attempt to teach any 
other gospel except that which he had taught." J Christ 
founded a single Church, with ^^ one Lord, 07ie faith, one 
baptism; "§ and again, "there shall be one fold, and one 
Shepherd ; " || and again, " we being many, are one hody 
in Christ : " ^ and as a warning to innovators, our Saviour 
asserts that "every kingdom divided against itself shall be 
made desolate." ** 

Numerous other extracts might be cited from Holy Writ 

* Eph. iv. 11-14. f Rom. xvi. IT. ' % Gal. i. 8, 9. 

§Epli. iv. 5. I Matt. xii. 25. \ John x. 15. 

** Matt. xii. 25. 



164: CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

to the same purport, but we have presented a sufficient num- 
her to demonstrate the necessity of unity of faith, and unity 
and uniformity of ecclesiastical organization, and of reli- 
gious worship. The entire spirit and end of Christ's mis- 
sion was to present mankind with a new religious system, 
and to establish a Christian organization or Church as 
the perpetual guardian and dispenser of His sacred truths. 
In a matter of such vital importance to the welfare of the 
human race, our Saviour deemed it necessary to dwell upon 
the importance of unity of faith, to caution His disciples 
against "false teachers and false prophets, who are blown 
about by every wmd of doctrine," " who are led away with 
various and strange doctrines," and the " profane novelties 
of words," and to define the mode through which the unity 
and integrity of the Church might be perpetually main- 
tained. 

The true Christian will always be solicitous for the honor 
and glory of the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and do 
every thing in Ma power to maintain the integrity and wel- 
fare of the universal kingdom of his Divine Master. He will 
deprecate dissensions and divisions among the subjects and 
soldiers of the cross, and frown down the eiforts of men who 
would set themselves and their human doctrines up in the 
place of Christ and His holy precepts. He will hold fast to 
the doctrines which the Father gave to our Lord, which He 
gave to the apostles, and they to their successors and to the 
Church. In the formation of his religious opinions he will 
be governed by the teachings of Jesus, His apostles, and 
those holy saints and martyrs who have devoted their lives 
to the service of God, and some of whom were personally 
acquainted with our Lord and the apostles, and had listened 
to their preachings. He will put far from him all false 
teachers, and creed-coiners, who establish new and private 
religions for the gratification of personal ambition and vanity, 
and to perpetuate their own names. He will always remem- 
ber that Christ founded only a single Church, and that the 
thousand and one creeds invented by the vain and visionary 



COMMON GROUNDS OF EELIGIOUS FAITH. 165 

creecl-coiriers of the world are only devices of Satan to dis- 
tract the faithful and impair its unity and catholicity. These 
false teachers, and their dupes, who sow their tares amidst 
the wheat, do undoubtedly retard, to some extent, the onward 
progress of the Church to universal unity and catholicity; 
but, ere long, their impious efforts will come to naught. How- 
ever much, therefore, Satanic influences may temporarily dis- 
turb and divide the Christian world, we may rest assured that 
in the end all private creeds of man's invention will be extir- 
pated as virulent excrescences, and the Church, founded on 
the everlasting rock of truth, be permanently and universally 
established. 

A loyal subject honors his temporal ruler, loves his na- 
tionality, and is willing to fight and to die for the integrity, 
unity, glory, and welfare of his native country. The true 
subject and soldier of God should be no less anxious and de- 
voted to the integrity, unity, universality, glory, and welfare 
of that Church and that spiritual kingdom which was estab- 
lished by the Redeemer of the world. Bickerings, conten- 
tions, envies, jealousies, and strifes should not prevail that 
men may be glorified, and human names and human hypothe- 
ses be received with honors which belong only to God and 
His sacred doctrines. 

But, inquires the doubter, how shall we decide where 
that Church is, and by what marks can we recognize it 
among the numerous and discordant churches of the world? 

To this pertinent query we respond that there are infalli- 
ble marks by which it may be recognized : 1. That Church 
whose tenets and practices are identical with those inculcated 
by Christ and His apostles must be the true Church. 2. That 
Church which received its doctrines directly from Christ, His 
apostles, and the bishops and priests appointed and ordained 
by them, must of necessity be the true Church. 3. That 
Church which has maintained uninterruptedly and purely its 
unity, its catholicity, and its succession of bishops, from St. 
Peter to the present Bishop of Kome, must be the true Church. 
4. That Church which alone has existed from the time of its 



166 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

foundation by our Lord to the present day — always visible, 
never latent, never vanquished, never inoperative — must be 
the true Church. 

Ail of these distinguishing marks pertain exclusively to 
the Catholic Church. 

Let us all, then, become loyal subjects of the King of 
kings — Christians in thought, word, and deed — and as such, 
banish pride, prejudice, error, and the delusive inventions of 
men, and, becoming as little children, receive the authoritative 
truths of Christianity with faith and humility. From the 
common ground upon which all Christians stand, let us seek 
for unity, universal brotherhood, harmony, identity of doc- 
trine and faith, and active and efficient cooperation in pro- 
mulgating the truths of Christianity to the whole world. 

A belief in one and the same personal God, composed of 
the Father, of His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, who was 
conceived and born -of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of the 
Holy Ghost emanating from the Father and Son, is almost 
imiversal among Christian sects. Although the fact of the 
unity of the three Persons in one God, identical in spirit and 
purpose, and equal in power and glory, is a mystery incom- 
prehensible to mortals, yet there are but few at the present 
time who entertain the slightest doubt of the great and di- 
vine truth. How strong should be the bond of union be- 
tween those who believe in and worship the same Almighty 
benefactor, who continually derive blessings from His infinite 
love, and who hope to enjoy His smiles in the eternal world ! 
How earnest should be the efforts of such believers to culti- 
vate unity of sentiment and faith, and to unite the whole 
worldpn one brotherhood of Christians ! 

The belief is almost universal that Christ came upon the 
earth, clothed Himself in a human form, preached, taught, 
ministered, suffered, and was crucified for the redemption of 
fallen man. This incarnation, or visible manifestation of 
God on earth in Jesus Christ, was an act of infinite mercy 
and love; and its contemplation should always fire the heart 
of the Christian with ardent devotion toward the infinite 



COMMOl^T GEOUNDS OF EELIGIOUS FAITH. 167 

Fountain of love and goodness. It would be a difficult mat- 
ter to find a real Christian who has not implicit faith in the 
atonement. 

A belief in the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures is com- 
mon to all Christians. The remarkable wisdom of a book 
written so many centuries ago, and the wonderful purity, 
truthfulness, beneficence, love, and goodness which beam 
forth from every page, forever stamped it as the word of 
God. This divine gospel, in conjunction with the sacred 
traditions handed down from the apostles, are practically 
recognized as their rule of faith and practice, by nearly every 
sect in Christendom. 

All sects believe in the ten commandments, in the Lord's 
prayer, and in the necessity of a continual observance of 
them. They acknowledge that these commandments came 
directly from God, and were confirmed by Christ in the 
new dispensation. Not only the divine origm of these sacred 
injunctions is recognized by the entire Christian world, but 
the duty of heeding them in order to secure happiness here 
and hereafter. Founded on principles of love and obedience 
to God, love to man, and strict justice in all the relations of 
life, they constitute a moral and social code of surpassing 
simplicity, power, and comprehensiveness. These precepts 
require both faith and practice in order to render them effi- 
cacious ; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who violates 
the least of them. Here, again, Catholics and Protestants 
stand on common ground. On this ground we find Supreme 
love and devotion to God, reverence for His holy name, re- 
spect for the Sabbath, for parents, and an avoidance of any 
injury in thought, word, or deed, toward our fellow-men. 

Another of the divine injunctions was a perpetual observ- 
ance of the Lord's prayer. As Christ Himself dictated this 
prayer to His disciples, no one has yet been sufficiently pre- 
sumptuous to protest against it, and to substitute a reformed 
Lutheran or a Calvinistic prayer in its stead. It still re- 
mains, therefore, as a common ground of faith and practice 
for Protestants as well as Catholics. 



168 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Every sincere Christian believes in the necessity of re- 
pentance for sins committed, and in reformation, in order to 
secure happiness here and hereafter. The silent voice of 
conscience continually admonishes all men of these vital 
and essential truths; and even when human sophistry and 
skepticism cast their gossamer veils before the never-sleeping 
eye of conscience, the great fact is still recognized, still ap- 
preciated. 

All Christians agree as to the importance of meeting to- 
gether on the Sabbath, and other appointed days, for the 
worship of God ; and that it is not only eminently proper, 
but obligatory on the part of the finite creature to honor 
and glorify in every suitable manner the Infinite Creator. 

Nearly every sect believes in and practises baptism, be- 
cause Christ has declared that " unless a man be born of 
water and the Holy Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of 
heaven ; " and because they have as exemplars the Redeemer, 
His holy apostles, and their disciples and successors. 

These common grounds of religious faith include every 
thing essential to salvation. From the time of the apostles 
to the present moment, they have been the grand fundamental 
principles of the Catholic Church. At all periods of the 
Christian era, and among all the nations of the earth, her 
prelates and missionaries have nailed these divine precepts to 
the cross, and under this blessed symbol have fought the bat- 
tles of Christianity agains the cultivated pagans of the Roman 
empire, the barbaric Goths, Yandals, Huns, Lombards, and 
Saracens of the middle ages, the Brahmins and Pariahs 
of India and Ceylon, the Buddhists of China and Japan, 
and the unenlighted natives of ISTorth and South America, 
and the savage islands of the Pacific Ocean. Faith in one 
Infinite and personal God, in the Trinity, in the incarnation, 
in the atonement, in baptism, in repentance, confession and 
reformation of sin, in the ten commandments, in the Lord's 
prayer, and the Holy Scriptures, have been the watchwords 
and governing principles of the Church at all times and un- 
der all circumstances. Tlirouofh these immutable doctrines 



COMMON GEOUNDS OF EELIGIOUS FAITH. 169 

her unity has ever been maintained, and her supernatural 
triumphs in heathen lands been sustained. Endowed with 
these divine truths, and always sustained by the Spirit of truth, 
she has kept steadily on her way toward her destined goal — 
eternity and heaven. In bygone ages storms and tempests 
have raged around her, dangers have beset her on every hand, 
and the powers of darkness have been leagued against her, but 
the hand of her Founder has always held her up, and directed 
her heavenward. On these conceded principles all Christen- 
dom can consistently stand in unity and harmony ; all can 
achieve salvation ; all can cooperate in establishing among 
all nations the true Church in accordance with the design 
and instructions of the Redeemer. 

The coincidences between the Roman, Greek, and Angli- 
can Churches are more evident than those which j)ertain to 
other sects; and a critical examination of the subject will 
demonstrate the fact, beyond all question, that the separation 
of the two latter from the parent Church of Rome was en- 
tirely due to political causes^ and personal ambition and self- 
ishness. 

Thus, 1. The Roman, Greek, and Anglican believers oc- 
cupy the same ground, in so far as they have all taken the 
same views substantially of the Church, its authority, and its 
unbroken continuity. 

2. They all (in contradistinction to the subjective system 
of Protestantism) uphold a system of priesthood and sacra- 
ments, because they all think alike respecting the incarnation 
of the Son of God. 

3. They all have an historic past, and make much of his- 
toric Christianity. 

4. The Nicene, or Constantinopolitan creed, is the com- 
mon symbol of the three communions. 

5. The public worship of the three churches is celebrated 
liturgically. 

6. They all, in a greater or less degree, cherish and make 
much of the sesthetio principle in the public services ; e. <;., 
by the use of vestments, lights, incense, flowers, pictures. 



170 CHEISTIANITY AJ^D ITS CONFLICTS. 

images, etc. ; also, by decent and edifying ceremonies, atti- 
tudes, postures, etc. 

7. They all yield a profound deference to the consent of 
fathers and doctors, and to universal Christian consciousness. 

8. They all maintain that the collective voice of the 
Catholic Church, especially as expressed in general council « 
is infallible. 

9. They all insist on the truth that canonical Scripture 
not merely contains, but is, the word of God. 

10. Objective universal tradition is a governing and 
swaying authority with them all. 

11. They all believe that the finally impenitent — those 
dying in mortal sin — will be turned into hell, there to under- 
go everlasting punishment. 

12. They all believe Mary, ever virgin, to be the mother 
of God. 

Dr. I^ev/man specifies the follov/ing fundamentals as com- 
mon to both the Roman and Anglican systems: "In both 
systems the same creeds are acknowledged. Besides other 
points in common, we both hold that certain doctrines are 
necessary to be believed for salvation; we both believe in 
the doctrines of the Trinity, incarnation, and atonement; 
in original sin ; in the necessity of regeneration ; in the super- 
natural grace of the sacraments ; in the apostolic succession ; 
in the obligation of faith and obedience, and in the eternity 
of future punishment." * 

The subjects against v/hich all Protestant sects object 
are : 

1. The invocation of saints, and the veneration of relics, 
sacred images, and pictures. 

2. Auricular confession. 

3. The supremacy of the pope. 

4. The doctrine of purgatory. 

5. To the Tridentine definition of the mode of Christ's 
presence in the sacrament of the altar. 

6. The enforced celibacy of the priesthood. 

* Prof. Office, pp. 55, 56. 



COMMON GK0UOT3S OF RELIGIOUS FAITH. 171 

1. To the use of a dead language in tlie public ministra- 
tions. 

8. To the withdrawal of the cup from the laity. 

9. To the forms, ceremonies, and festivals of the Church. 

10. To indulgences. 

We shall present, further on, a brief outline of the ac- 
tual opinions of the Church upon the principal points of 
doctrine and discipline, as established by her authorized de- 
crees and canons, with a view of refuting the gross misrepre- 
sentations of Protestants, and of demonstrating the specious- 
ness and triviality of the pretexts urged by ancient and 
modern innovators for dividing, distracting, and seceding 
from the Church. 

Let it never be forgotten that all of the grand councils of 
the Church, from Nice to Trent, have included all the es- 
sential elements of the Catholic faith in four divisions, viz., 
the Apostles Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's 
Prayer, and the Seven Sacraments. It is difficult to conceive 
how any true Christian, who really desires unity, harmony, 
and efficiency in the Church, and who is solicitous for the 
spiritual welfare of his fellow-creatures, can refuse his cordial 
assent to these four fundamental divisions. 

We regard the fact that all sects of Christians entertain 
similar opinions upon these vital points of doctrine as one of 
momentous import. This similarity of belief is almost en- 
tirely unknown and unappreciated by Protestants, in conse- 
quence of the long-continued and wicked misrepresentations 
of sectarians respecting the tenets of the Catholic Church. 
These misrepresentations, and these sectarian perversions, 
pervade every class of Protestant society. They are taught 
in schools, in colleges, in churches, in books, in pamphlets, and 
are propagated by preachers, missionaries, and even legis- 
lators. It ever has been, and still is, the aim of Protestantism 
to distract, divide, and set at variance Christians. Any bold 
and eloquent man, who chooses to regard himself as a 
preacher of the gospel, no matter what moral or mental per- 
versities he may possess, may, under Protestant custom. 



172 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

draw up Hs own religious articles of faith, establish a new 
sect, christen it with his own name, surround himself with 
thousands of deluded disciples, and thus launch on the ocean 
of life his schismatic craft. It is through this unwarranted 
and wanton exercise of private judgment and personal am- 
bition that the Christian world is now distracted, divided, 
and cursed with its thousand sects. Instead of recognizing 
and appreciating continually these fundamental principles 
of religion, and of striving to enlist all men as brethren 
under one holy banner, these men are "led away with 
various and strange doctrines," * destructive to that Chris- 
tian unity, fraternity, harmony, and concert of action so es- 
sential to the propagation and welfare of religion. 

So far, then, as three out of the four divisions to which we 
have alluded are concerned, all Christians stand on common 
ground, and from this stand-point they can sincerely regard 
each other as brethren and co-workers in the same cause. 

We come now to the fourth grand division of the fathers 
of Trent, viz., the seven sacraments. These sacraments were 
ordained by Christ and His apostles as special means of grace, 
to enable the Christian to perform the duties enjoined in the 
first three divisions. These means of grace, these divinely 
instituted auxiliaries, were established by our Saviour as the 
mode and the only mode by which His precepts could be ob- 
served and His commands obeyed. 

Men are so sinful by nature, so wedded to pride, ambi- 
tion, licentiousness, covetousness, luxury, pomp, and worldly 
applause, that it is impossible for them to keep the command- 
ments of God in sincerity and truth, except through the 
agency of these very means of grace. Without the special 
graces communicated, and the restraints imposed by these 
sacraments, men cannot and will not curb their passions and 
their worldly desires ; and it was probably with direct refer- 
ence to this sinful and perverse nature that they were given 
us. So essential were they regarded by our Saviour, to en- 
able men to work out their own salvation, and to resist the 

* Heb. xiii. 9. 



COMMON GEOIJKDS OF RELIGIOUS FAITH. 173 

evil influences of their own natures, and the temptations of 
the evil one, that He positively commanded their observance 
by all Christians. 

If we examine critically the sacraments even from a phil- 
osophical point of view, we shall not fail to be impressed 
with their vast importance in aiding men to keep the com- 
mandments, and to subdue their selfish passions and propen- 
sities. "Without the blessings bestowed, and the restraints 
imposed by their observance, we verily believe that men 
would degenerate continually. 

We have shown that the fundamental and essential ele- 
ments of Christianity are held by nearly every sect in Chris- 
tendom, that these principles comprise every thing essential 
to salvation, and that the points which have been protested 
against and dissented from, were not such as to justify seces- 
sion from the Church, and attempts to destroy its unity and 
harmony. Even Luther coincides in this opinion, as may be 
seen in the following extract from a letter addressed to 
Miltitz, the legate of Pope Leo X., who was sent to remon- 
strate with him on his innovations. Luther proclaims the 
Church of Rome " as honored of God above all others ; in her 
two apostles, forty-six popes, and hundreds of thousands of 
martyrs who had shed their blood, and made her an especial 
object of God's regard ; that whatsoever of evil there might he 
in her, could never justify separation from her, for God must 
not be abandoned on account of the devil, neither is there 
any sin or evil which should destroy charity or break unity." 
In future chapters we shall prove that the pretexts of all 
the Protestant innovators of the Christian era have been 
frivolous. 

Let us now glance at a few of the observances of the 
Catholic Church to which the sects object, and examine the 
grounds of objection. 



CHAPTEK XY. 

ON THE INVOCATION OF SAINTS, AND ON SACKED IMAGES 
AND PICTUKES. 

One of the most common errors of Protestants consists 
in the supposition that the Catholic Chm^ch sanctions and 
permits the worship of the Virgin Mary aad other saints in 
heaven. This error has been so industriously promulgated, 
that the great mass of the opponents of Catholicism really be- 
lieve that the same divine worship and adoration which belongs 
alone to God, is also given to the blessed Virgin. This, like 
many other popular fallacies, has created unfair and undeserved 
prejudices and opposition on the part of our antagonists. Al- 
most daily the query is propounded, "How can you worship 
the Virgin Mary and the saints and angels ? How can you 
supplicate them for aid, instead of appealing directly to God 
and to Christ ? How can you invoke them to assist you, and 
manifest toward them love, gratitude, and respect, when our 
Saviour has declared that there is only one Mediator between 
God and man, Jesus Christ ? " 

We respond to these queries by briefly indicating the 
actual doctrines and practice of the Roman Church upon this 
point. 

We believe that to God — to the Holy Trinity — to the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — alone belong the supreme wor- 
ship and adoration of mortals. We believe that God alone 
is the infinite Fountain of knowledge, power, love, truth, 
and goodness, and that every blessing, every endowment. 



ON THE INVOCATION OF SAINTS, ETC. 175 

every gift, and every benefit pertaining to all the saints and 
angels in heaven, and to mortals on earth, are derived exclu- 
sively and solely from Him. We believe that the only 
Mediator between God- and man is our Saviour ; because He 
was sent by the Father to earth to become incarnate, to teach 
the sacred truths of religion, to suffer, and to be crucified for 
the express purpose of making an atonement for the sins of 
men, and thus of becoming their Mediator. Christ, therefore, 
is the only Mediator between God and man; and angels, 
saints, and mortals, always address Him, adore Him, worship 
Him, and pray to Him as such. 

But does this fact preclude the sinner from asking his 
pastor to pray to Christ for the pardon of his sins ? When 
the sinner is prostrated physically and mentally by disease, 
may he not call upon his minister, or upon a Christian friend 
to pray for him, and may not such prayers be efficacious and 
acceptable to God? Do not the Holy Scriptures repeatedly 
command us to pray for one another ? and do they not de- 
clare that the "prayers of the righteous availeth much?" ^ 

When the Protestant pastor prays to God or to Christ 
for pardon, forgiveness, and a blessing for one of his flock 
who may be sick, and weak in mind and body, he surely 
does not assume to himself the office of mediator between 
God and man, but he acts the part of a humble supphant 
imploring the Almighty in behalf of a sinful brother. The 
whole Christian world recognizes the propriety and utility 
of such prayers, and no one supposes that the pastor or the 
Christian friend usurps any of the attributes or the preroga- 
tives of our divine Master. 

In like manner the Catholic requests his priest to pray for 
him. But he does not stop here, he even ventures to ask 
the mother of Jesus herself to pray for him, and also the 
angels and saints in heaven. 

If the prayers of a clergyman or a Christian on earth may 
be acceptable to God, and answered by Him in behalf of an 
erring brother, w^hy may not the prayers of the angels and 
saints, and especially of the mother of our Saviour, be accept- 



1T6 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

able in His sight, and responded to by Him ? The following 
passages from the sacred Scriptures demonstrate that on 
diverge occasions the prayers of angels and saints in behalf 
of mortals have been heard and ansvf ered by God, viz. : 

" There shall be joy before the angels of God over one 
sinner doing penance." ^' 

" When thou didst pray with tears, and didst leave thy 
dinner, and didst bury the dead, I offered thy prayer to the 
Lord, . . . For I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven who 
stand before the Lord." f 

The prophet Jeremias, long after his death, prayed for the 
people ; thus : " This is a lover of his brethren, and of the 
people of Israel; this is he %h.2it pray eth much for the people, 
and for all the holy city, Jeremias the prophet of God." % 

" And the angel of the Lord answered and said : O Lord 
of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem ' 
and on the cities of Judah with which Thou hast been angry ? 
—this is now the seventieth year. And the Lord answered 
the angel that spoke in me good words, comfortable words. . . 
Therefore, thus saith the Lord, I will return to Jerusalem in 
mercies." § 

" And I saw seven angels standing in the presence of 
God. ... And another angel came, and stood before the altar, 
having a golden censer; and there was given to him much 
incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon 
the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. And 
the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended 
up before God from the hand of the angel." || 

" Jacob prevailed over the angel, and was strengthened ; 
he wept, and made aupplieation to him.'''' ^ 

To the angel who was going to destroy Sodom, Abraham 
prayed that " he would not slay the just with the wicked." ** 
Li consequence of this prayer. Lot was spared. 

Lot also prayed the same angel to spare Segor. " And he 

* Luke XV. 10. f Tobias xii. 12, 15. % 2 Mac. xiv. 14. 

§ Zach. i. 12, 13, 16. j] Apoe. viii. 2-4. ^ Osee xii. 4. 

** Gen. xviii. 23, 25. 



OK THE mVOCATION OF SAINTS, ETC. 177 

(the angel) said to him. Behold also in this, I have heard 
thy prayers not to destroy the city for which thou hast 
spoken." * 

On his death-bed Jacob prayed thus : " God that feedeth 
me from my youth until this day; the angel that delivereth 
me from all evils, bless these boys, and let my name be 
called upon them." f The Scriptures contain many other al- 
lusions to the influence of angels in human affairs ; and a be- 
lief in them is by no means confined to the Catholics. Thus 
David says : 

"He hath given His angels charge over thee, to keep 
thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up, 
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." | Also Christ as 
follows : " See that you despise not one of these little ones ; 
for I say to you that their angels in heaven always see the 
face of My Father who is in heaven." § 

" The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them 
that fear Him, and shall deliver them." || 

" As the Lord liveth. His angel hath been my keeper, 
both going hence, and abiding there, and returning from 
thence hither." ^ 

" Behold I will send My angel, who shall go before thee, 
and keep thee in thy journey. . . . Take notice of him, and 
hear his voice, and do not think him one to be contemned ; 
for he will not forgive when thou hast sinned; and My name 
is in him." ** 

The Catholic Church everywhere expressly prohibits every 
thing like divine worship of the Virgin Mary, or of any saint 
or angel in heaven, or prayers to them for the pardon of 
sins. Every Catholic, even the most ignorant, is carefully 
instructed by his priest that he must worship God alone, and 
rely upon him solely for grace, for mercy, for pardon. But 
he is also instructed that he may ask the prayers of the faith- 
ful on earth, and of the angels and saiijts in heaven, in his 

* Gen. xix. 18-22. f Gen. slyiii. 15, 16. % Ps. sc. 10-12. 

§ Matt, xviii. 10. \ Ps. xxxiii. 8. ^ Judith xiii. 20. 

**Exod. xxiii. 20, 21. 

8* 



1V8 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

behalf. How reasonable, how probable, how beautiful the 
idea that the blessed spirits who continually glorify God in 
heaven, and are filled with love and joy unspeakable, should 
often revert to those dear ones Avhom they have left behind 
on earth, and by their prayers to the Being of infinite love 
and mercy endeavor to secure for them the Divine aid and 
blessing ! Is it to be supposed that these blessed spirits, so 
replete with love and bliss, can forget their earthly brethren, 
and no longer feel an interest in them ? Does not the sainted 
mother in heaven still regard her darling babes on earth 
with tender affection, and pray for them to Him who said, 
"Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, 
for of such is the kingdom of heaven " ? 

Catholics do not worship the Virgin, or angels, or saints; 
but they do ask them to pray for them, and to use their 
kindly influences in bringing them nearer and nearer to God. 
They do not worship these blessed spirits who are so near 
to God ; but they do love them, reverence them, and rely 
upon their friendship, and their prayers, and their kindly 
ofiices in their behalf. 

While confined in the mortal body, the faculties of the 
soul and all the operations of the intellect are limited. The 
powers of the special senses — sight, hearing, smell, taste, and 
touch — are confined to very narrow bounds; and the results 
of human thought and reason are exceedingly meagre and 
unsatisfactory ; and yet no thought, no word, no act emana- 
ting from these finite beings of earth escapes the All-seeing 
eye of our Father in heaven. When these same souls escape 
from their mortal habitation — from the trammels of the body 
— all the faculties are vastly enhanced, and vision, hearing, 
thought, reason, and understanding are almost unlimited. 
They can see and appreciate our desires and our wants, 
although we grope through life chained within the limited 
confines of our mortal prison-house. 

It is a universal and beautiful cnstoni of the heads of Chris- 
tian families to pray for themselves, their wives, their chil- 
dren, their kindred, and their friends. No one doubts the 



ON THE INVOCATION OF SAINTS, ETC. 179 

efficacy of these family intercessions to tlie omnipotent Father 
of mankind; nor does any one suppose that they detract 
from the mediatorship of our Saviour. Pastors of all sects 
habitually implore the divine interposition and blessing upon 
their congregations, their rulers, and their fellow-men. ISTo 
one questions the utility or the propriety of these prayers of 
third parties, nor does any one believe that they trench upon 
the peculiar mediatorship of the Redeemer. Those who are 
sick or in imminent danger call upon their spiritual advisers 
and their religious friends to appeal to Jesus for the pardon 
of their sins, and for His all-powerful aid in rescuing them 
from their perils. N'o one accuses these earthly interceders 
of usurping the mediatorial office of the Most High. 

And when the prayei*s of holy men on earth ascend to 
the throne of God, and the Saviour of the world hears them, 
answers them, and brings repentant sinners to His heavenly 
fold, the Scriptures teach us that there is rejoicing among 
the saints and angels in heaven. If these saints and angels 
are cognizant of these prayers, and " rejoice over one sinner 
that repenteth," it is not unreasonable to suppose that they 
who surround the throne of grace also join their prayers 
with those ascending from earth. /NTor will the sainted 
mother, who has left her helpless babes behind her to the 
chances and charities of a cold and selfish world, refrain from, 
imploring a blessing on them from the ever-living fountain of 
Love ! Nor will the Author of their being, who said, " Let 
little children come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of 
such is the kingdom of heaven," refuse to listen lovingly and 
favorably to the prayers of this mother! And the glorious 
company of angels and saints, who continually imbibe love 
and light from the Deity, will regard with tender interest 
the dear ones of earth, and ask their heavenly Father to 
bless them! It would be heartless to suppose that the 
saints in heaven forget that they have husbands, Avives, 
parents, children, brothers, and sisters on earth, and that 
they have extinguished the affections vfhich God implanted 
within them while here below ! 



180 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Some writer has aptly designated death as a new hirth. 
The body dies, and its material parts decay and resolve 
themselves into their original elements, to be again recom- 
bined under new forms. A few scores of years hence, and 
the proud mortal, whose body is now radiant with beauty 
and grace, may become a component part of some animal, 
some monster, a tree, a plant, or perchance a flower. As 
the atoms of the decomposing body fly away, and become 
diffused, in obedience to the laws of Nature, new affinities 
obtain, new combinations result, and that which was once a 
human form, may constitute in part hundreds of new, and 
dissimilar animals and plants. 

But the real body — the spiritual body — is born again. It 
has been delivered from the nan^ow trammels of the physical 
organization, the capacities of all its faculties are vastly en- 
hanced, and it enters the spirit-world, leaving its earthy 
clogs and fetters behind. With these enlarged capacities 
the immortal saint can regard the thoughts and the actions 
of men, can exercise a certain spiritual influence over us, and 
can ask our Father who is in heaven to aid us and bless us. 

How cold and heartless the philosophy which would 
teach us that our departed relatives and friends have for- 
gotten us, have lost all earthly ties and affections, and con- 
cern themselves no more respecting the affairs of this world ! 
How unnatural to suppose that those whom God has united 
on earth, by the tenderest sentiments of love and afiection, 
are to become to one another strangers after death ! 

The following instructions, from the canons and decrees 
of the Council of Trent, are given to all bishops and teachers 
of the Church. They are commanded to teach " that the 
saints, who reign together with Christ, offer up their own 
prayers to God for men*, that it is good and useful sup- 
pliantly to invoke them, and to have recourse to their 
prayers, aid, and help for obtaining benefits from God, 
through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alone our 
Redeemer and Saviour." * 

* " Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent," p, 2S4. 



ON THE INVOCATION OF SAINTS, ETC. 181 

As religion consists in a correct knowledge of all the 
Divine precepts, and in the habitual observance of them, 
the Church maintains that any object or any act capable 
of inducing in the human mind a devout thought, may be 
productive of good results. When such objects or acts recall 
the agony and sufferings of our Saviour upon the cross, they 
are especially likely to produce impressions which tend to 
elevate the heart toward God. When a Catholic beholds 
a picture of the crucifixion, or a statue of our Saviour upon 
the cross, his mind instantly reverts to our blessed Saviour in 
the garden of Gethsemane, crowned with thorns, and led by 
the minions of Pontius Pilate to the scaffold, amid the jeers, 
the insults, and the mockery of the multitude, and to His 
agonies and death upon the cross. The devout Christian 
bows himself with reverence, and weeps before this symbol, 
and his heart is filled with gratitude and love toward the 
Saviour of mankind. Is it the inanimate canvas or the 
colors which adorn it that call forth these emotions of 
gratitude, love, and adoration ? In prostrating himself be- 
fore it, with tears and humble devotion, does he worship and 
adore the picture, or the heavenly personage it represents ? 

The sight of a picture or a statue of the blessed Virgin 
naturally calls up, before the meanest as well as the best in- 
tellect, the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus, His 
humble abode in the manger after birth, the respect and 
adoration of the shepherds and of the wise men, the attempt 
of Herod to destroy Him by the massacre of the innocents. His 
infantile persecutions by the Jews, His tarrying in the syna- 
g02:ue of His enemies, and the tender care and holy affection 
of the mother for her Divine Child. Are such representations 
and such thoughts idolatrous ? Is it not useful to recall, as 
often as possible, the history, the life, the instructions, and 
sufferings of the Saviour, and the events connected there- 
w^ith ? And is it material whether we appeal to the mind, 
by oral or written words, or by representations in marble or 
on canvas ? It is not the eloquent language, or the classical 
diction, or the artistic groupings in marble or on the canvas 



182 CnillSTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

which impress our minds and develop within us sentiments 
of love, gratitude, and adoration, but the ideas, the scenes, 
the facts represented. 

It is immaterial what particular angel, saint, or scene is 
depicted, provided it calls to mind any interesting event in 
the life and career of Christ, or tends to draw the heart of 
man nearer to God. 

Objections are often urged against the Church by Prot- 
estants for what they term its ceremonies, forms, displays, 
and "mummeries." They especially denounce any token 
of respect to the symbol of our Saviour's crucifixion. Pros- 
tration and prayer before the cross, and personal signing of 
the cross, are regarded as particularly odious, undignified, 
and idolatrous. These self-reliant and self-satisfied Chris- 
tians prefer to show their manhood, their independence, and 
their fearlessness, by always passing by these holy symbols 
with heads and bodies erect, and with haughty and defiant 
sneers upon their lips. But the Saviour, who once bore this 
cross, and died upon it to atone for the sins of men, beholds 
him who sneers at and ridicules it, as well as the humble 
worshipper who prostrates himself in gratitude and devotion 
before it. 

In this connection we present an incident. A few years 
since an emigrant vessel arrived in this port from Liverpool, 
after a long and tempestuous voyage. As soon as the ship 
touched the wharf her passengers hastened away to their dif- 
ferent destinations. Among them were some thirty or forty 
Catholic emigrants, poor, ignorant, ragged, friendless, and 
houseless in a strange land. On stepping on shore, they 
glanced about for some sacred edifice where they could ex- 
press their gratitude and thanks to God for their protection, 
during the voyage, and their safe arrival. The spire of old 
Trinity Church, bearing upon her front the cross, caught 
their eyes, and with one accord they rushed to the spot, pros- 
trated themselves to the earth before it, and blessed God from 
their hearts for bringing them thus far on their pilgrimage. 
Did these poor unfortunates express their gratitude and thanks 



OH THE INVOCATION OF SAINTS, ETC. 183 

to old Trinity spire and its cross, or to the merciful Being 
who rules the waves and the tempest, and who had con- 
ducted them safely to harbor ? And will this merciful Being 
look down upon these poor emigrants with less approbation 
than upon the proud merchants who departed from the same 
vessel, and passed by the same sacred edifice and the same 
sacred emblem of the crucifixion, unheedingly, and per- 
haps mockingly and defiantly? But these lowly strangers 
not only prostrated themselves before the temple and the 
cross of our Lord, but they repeatedly signed themselves 
with the sacred emblem, in the name of the Father and of 
the Son and of the Holy Ghost, as a token to the whole 
world of their faith and gratitude. Is there not danger that 
those who are ashamed of their faith, and hesitate to mani- 
fest it by devout acts, will also be unrecognized and denied 
at the day of judgment? 

One of the most beautiful customs of civilized societies is 
that of procuring and cherishing pictures, busts, and statues 
of departed friends. It would be difficult to find a family 
that has not a portrait or a bust of some dear relative who is 
in the land of spirits. And who, in regarding these images 
of the departed, does not recall the virtues, the kindnesses, 
the affection, and other excellent traits which pertained to them 
during life, and glow with renewed tenderness toward them ? 
Is it the mere work of the artist which calls up these emo- 
tions, or are they due to the individuals and the ideas, rep- 
resented ? 

The same sentiment which induces a parent to desire a 
portrait or a statue of a departed child, actuates the Catholic 
in desiring a likeness or a statue of the Saviour, and of angels 
and saints. It is natural and commendable for mankind to 
desire to possess likenesses and mementoes of all who are 
dear to them, and the stronger their affection for them, the 
stronger the desire of possession. If, then, we love the 
Saviour better than our departed friends, why may we not 
wear His image or His portrait as well as theirs next to 
our hearts? Among the photographs in the album of the 



184 CHEIBTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

heart, why may we not in chide those of the blessed Virgm 
Mary, the mother of Jesus, of the angels and saints, as well 
as of the other spirits in the same heaven ? 

Can any man he impressed by any object, or perform any 
act which tends to call to mind the glory and goodness of 
God, or the history of the Redeemer, without deriving bene- 
fit therefrom? Whether the representation be Jesus upon 
the cross, or in the act of raising the dead to life, or of healing 
the sick, or of walking on the sea and stilling the tempest, 
or of arguing in the synagogues of the Jews, or in the arms 
of His blessed mother, a helpless infant, or of Mary herself 
lamenting over the crucifixion and the loss of her beloved 
Son, good only can result from the sight and contemplation 
of them. 

The ignorant and weak-minded are with ' difficulty im- 
pressed by abstruse logic and subtle and refined ideas ; but 
present to them even a crude represen-tation upon canvas, or 
in marble, and they can understand and appreciate the senti- 
ments delineated. 

From a single paragraph, or a thought, an intellectual 
and cultivated man may be able to grasp the full significa- 
tion and scope of almost any subject presented to him. His 
acute perceptive and reflective faculties, his vivid imagina- 
tion, and his erudition, may enable him to comprehend and 
appreciate the wonderful and beautiful truths of religion, un- 
aided by any simpler, and cruder, or more material means ; 
but the masses of mankind are unlearned, unappreciative, un- 
imaginative, and incapable of receiving ardent and truthful 
impressions, exceiat through the agency of simple and almost 
tangible means. 

The objects and uses of language are to express ideas, and 
to preserve them by printed or written characters for future 
reference or use. By looking at printed words the mind can 
grasp the world's history, and all the emotions and passions of 
the heart can be evoked. These results are not produced by 
the printed sheets, but by the incidents which they call to 
mind. In the same manner pictures and statuary are in- 



ON THE INVOCATION OF SAINTS, ETC. 185 

tended to represent historical events, tlie lives and services 
of eminent statesmen, warriors, etc. ; and this constitutes an- 
other kind of language and another method of addressing 
mankind. Ideas may be conveyed by speech^ by printed or 
loritten words^ \)j physical signs^ or hj pictorial or other rep- 
resentations. The preacher details in words the passion and 
death of Christ, and the hearts of the faithful throb with 
gratitude and emotion ; or a writer prints on paper a descrip- 
tion of the same sufferings and crucifixion, and presents it to 
the eyes of the faithful with the same result ; or the artist 
carves in marhle or paints on canvas a representation of the 
same subject, and places them before the eyes of the true 
Christian with a similar effect. All these things are simply 
symbols in common use in order to express ideas and facts ; 
and the assertion so often made by Protestants against 
Catholics, that they do or can worship or idolize any one of 
these symbols of expression, is in the highest degree absurd. 

For the most part ideas are absorbed by the mind, and 
impressions received from spolcen words^ from printed or 
written words, from painted or sculptured characters and ob- 
jects, from physical signs and from sounds. A signal-fire, 
or the display of a flag from an elevation, or the sounds of a 
cannon, a drum, or a trumpet, may address an entire army at 
the same instant, and order a bloody battle-charge, or the 
burning and sacking of a city. Some of these appeal to the 
understanding, some are noisy and discordant, some musical 
and harmonious, some full of motion and life, and some 
mute. Some of them, like printed or written words, address 
themselves directly to the understanding and the reasoning 
and reflective faculties. Some, like paintings and statuary, 
appeal to the intelligence, through the beautiful, the sublime, 
and the emotional. Some strike the senses like an electrical 
stroke, and rouse into activity the ruder passions and emo- 
tions of the heart. 

Of course, no sensible man supposes that any of these sym- 
bols or modes of expression can be idolized. ISTo intelligent 
man will accuse his fellow-creature of superstition, image or 



186 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

picture worship, and idolatry, for choosing to receive ideas 
and facts from all of these modes of expression, instead of 
from a part of them. 

If the Christians of the first century did not build costly 
edifices, and adorn them with pictures, statues, and other 
representations of their beloved Master and His blessed 
mother, in gold and precious stones, it was because they 
were penniless and persecuted. Had it been in their power, 
they would have built temples reaching the very heavens, 
and filled them with symbols of Christ and His mission. 
And God in heaven would have approved of them, as He did 
in olden times. Yea, God commanded these things in the 
days of Moses and Solomon. Thus, God said to Moses : 
" Thou shalt make two cherubim of beaten gold, on the two 
sides of the oracle." * " And the Lord said to Moses, Make 
a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign." f God also di- 
rected Solomon to ornament the temple with images and 

pictures : thus, " He graved cherubim on the walls He 

made also in the house of the holy of holies two cherubim 
of image- w^ork ; and he overlaid them with gold." J 

1^0 less pleasing in the sight of God are the beautiful 
temples, and their sacred ornaments, erected in His honor by 
the children of the new dispensation. 

The authorized doctrines of the Church upon this subject 
are expressed in the canons and decrees of the Council of 
Trent as folio v/s : "Moreover, that the images of Christ, of 
the virgin mother of God, and of the other saints, are to be 
had and retained, particularly in temples, and that due honor 
and veneration are to be given them ; not that any divinity, 
or virtue, is believed to be in them, on account of which they 
are to be worshipped ; or that any thing is to be asked of them ; 
or that trust is to be reposed in images, as was of old done 
by the Gentiles who placed their hope in idols ; but because 
the honor which is shov^n them is referred to the prototypes 
which those images represent; in such wise that by the 
images which we kiss, and before which we uncover the head, 

* Exodus XXV. 18. f Numbers xxi. 8. :j: 2 Par. iii. '7-10. 



ON THE INYOCATION OF SAEnTS, ETC. 187 

and prostrate ourselves, we adore Christ, and we venerate 
the saints, whose similitude they bear." * 

The bishops are also instructed to teach — " that by means 
of the histories of the mysteries of our redemption, portrayed 
by paintings or other representations, the people are instructed, 
and confirmed in the habit of remembering, and continually 
revolving in mind the articles of faith : . . . . that so they 
might give God thanks for those things; may* order their 
own lives and manners in imitation of the saints ; and may 
be excited to adore and love God, and to cultivate piety : f 
.... and if any abuses have crept in amongst these holy and 
salutary observances, the holy synod heartily desii-es that 
they be utterly abolished ; in such wise that no images sug- 
gestive of false doctrine, and furnishing occasion of danger- 
ous error to the uneducated, be set up." J 

The fathers of Trent also taught that "the holy bodies of 
holy martyrs, and of others now living with Christ — which 
bodies were the living members of Christ, and the temple of 
the Holy Ghost, § and which are by Him to be raised unto 
eternal life, and to be glorified — are to be venerated by the 
faithful." II 

From the earliest period Catholics have honored and 
venerated the holy places which Christ blessed and sancti- 
fied with His divine presence when on earth, as well as the 
relics of His passion and crucifixion. They have also hon- 
ored and venerated the sepulchres and the relics of the 
saints and martyrs who have laid down their lives in the 
service of their divine Master. When Helena, the mother 
of Constantine, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to witness 
the places where our Redeemer had preached, suffered, and 
died, and succeeded in finding and in bringing away a por- 
tion of the holy cross to which He had been nailed, she did 
a noble and pious act, and the smiles and blessings of Heaven 
rested upon her. "When the sepulchre of Jesus and the other 

* " Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent," page 234. 
f Ibid., p. 235. X Ibid., p. 235. § 1 Cor. iii. 6. 

jl " Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent," page 235. 



188 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

holy places of Jerusalem were held and desecrated by the 
followers of Mohammed, all Europe rushed to arms, and in 
several bloody crusades attempted to wrest them from the 
hands of the infidel, with a view of honoring and glorifying 
their Saviour. The Lord's tomb, the garden of Gethsemane, 
and the mount of Olives, were all material and inanimate 
objects, some of them formed by the hands of men ; but 
they were honored and venerated for the associations con- 
nected with them, and the reminiscences they excited, and 
not for any inherent divinity or virtue which they possessed 
per se. / 

When holy men have devoted themselves exclusively to 
God, forsaken all worldly desires, taken their lives in their 
hands, suffered every conceivable privation and danger, and 
then been cruelly martyred, their memories, their sepulchres, 
and their relics have been honored and venerated. Are such 
tokens of respect and gratitude to the holy dead to be depre- 
cated ? Is it wrong to possess, or to look with veneration 
upon objects which recall the acts of these devoted servants 
and martyrs of Christ ? 

Nations retain and honor the relics of their great warriors 
and statesmen, and their armor, weapons, and other personal 
articles are handed down from generation to generation 
among the honored archives of the nation. Families pre- 
serve and respect, in a peculiar manner, mementoes and relics 
of departed relatives and friends, and the ideas which the 
sight of them calls up are in the highest degree precious and 
instructive. A lock of hair, a letter, a photograph, a marble 
image, or other memento of a deceased friend, brings up be- 
fore the mind's eye his face, his good qualities, his acts when 
living, and rekindles the dormant emotions of love and affec- 
tion. Is there idolatry in all this ? Do v/e render divme 
worship to these inanimate objects which we press to our lips 
and bathe with tears ? Does not every good instinct of our 
nature approve of the preservation of these mute relics, 
similitudes, and mementoes of the departed, and of these 
silent tokens of affection and respect? If these pictures, 



ON THE mVOCATION OF SAINTS, ETC. 189 

images, and relics, may with propriety occupy positions of 
honor in the domestic household, why, then, surely the pic- 
tures, images, and relics of Christ and His saints may occupy 
similar positions in the houses of God. If the contempla- 
tion of these objects of the domestic circle excite within us 
the most tender and refined emotions of the heart, surely a 
contemplation of similar objects within the walls of the 
Church should induce kindred emotions of love and rever- 
ence. If Protestants are sincere in their opposition to the 
exhibition of sacred pictures and statues in the churches, and 
if they actually believe that such exhibitions tend to idolatry, 
let them first turn to their own homes and commence the 
v/ork of reformation there. If they would be consistent in 
their professions, let them turn domestic iconoclasts ; pull 
down and break in pieces the images and busts of dead 
parents and relatives ; tear from their walls and trample 
under foot the portraits of the dear departed ; drag from their 
bosoms the photographs and the lockets of hair of deceased 
wives, children, parents, brothers, and sisters, and consign 
them to the flames. God help the cold-blooded heartlessness 
of those cavilling innovators who begrudge these tokens of 
love and honor to departed friends, or to God's elect in 
heaven ! - 

Modern sectaries are zealous advocates of simplicity in 
worship, for independence of all ecclesiastical authority, for 
freedom of conscience, and for an avoidance of all manifesta- 
tions of deference, submission, and humility toward the Su- 
preme Being. They scorn to kneel, and turn their backs to 
the altar when their pastors address the Infinite God ; they 
toss their heads and erect their bodies defiantly at the name 
of Jesus ; and were they to presume to invoke the prayers of 
His blessed mother, they would forsake the house of worship 
with unconcealed rage and hatred. Their innovating in- 
structors have taught them to reject every thing which had 
been held sacred by Catholics ; and as the latter have always^ 
been in the habit of bending the knee and bowing the head 
and body in adoration at the name of the Father, or the Son, 



190 . CUEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

or the Holy Ghost, tlie followers of the former were taught 
to scorn and to avoid such tokens of adoration in their wor- 
ship. These advocates of simplicity have ever scoffed at the 
idea of stooping before the name and the majesty of God, or 
Christ, or the Holy Spirit, or of compromising their dignity 
or their independence by humbling themselves before God or 
man. Although the Scriptures teach us that the archangels 
hide their faces in the presence of God, that Daniel fainted 
away and retained no strength, even in the presence of an 
angel, and that every knee should bow at the name of Jesus, 
modern sectaries are guilty of no such weaknesses. Why 
should they bow the knee to the living God ? Why should 
they bend their proud necks when asking a favor of Jesus 
of irazareth, the carpenter's son ? Why should they lower 
their dignity, or disarrange their equanimity and simplicity, 
by humbling themselves before the altar of the Triune God ? 
According to these men, those poor, deluded people of old, 
who followed Christ about, touching the hem of His garments, 
washing His feet with their hair, and prostrating themselves 
before Him, were bigoted papists — given over to idolatry, 
ceremonies, and vain superstitions. But Luther and Calvin 
did not live then, or these idolatrous practices would have 
been rebuked and reformed, and these relic-worshippers, feet- 
washers, kneelers, and bowers, would have been kept at a 
proper distance ! The following incident related by an An- 
glican clergyman who visited the Holy Sepulchre at Jeru- 
salem, illustrates the spirit of these reformed Christians. 
Within the precincts of the Holy Sepulchre, in that spot 
where angels tread with fear and awe, the English writer 
observes, that " the only visitors w^ho were not prostrate on 
their faces were Turks and English Protestants, but that the 
former were much the more reverent of the two. And this 
very reverence at the tomb of Christ, before which the holy 
women watched with heavy hearts, only moves with disdain 
the disciples of Luther, and Calvin, and Cranmer." " I have 
never seen any thing so abject," says one of them, " as the 
conduct of the pilgrims before the altar in the Calvary chapel. 



ETC. 191 

You can scarcely recognize them as men." * To lie prostrate, 
and to weep at the tomb of the Saviour, this gentleman deems 
abject degradation. 

St. Jerome comprises in a single paragraph the sentiment 
which animates the Catholic respecting this subject : " But 
we worship not, we adore not, I do not say relics only, but 
not even the sun and moon, not angels, not archangels, not 
the cherubim, not the seraphim . . . lest we serve the creature 
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forevermore. But 
we honor the relics of martyrs, that we may adore Him 
whose ma'rtyrs they are. We honor the servants, that the 
honor given to the servants may redound to the Lord, who 
says, He that receiveth you receiveth Jffe." 

* " The Wanderers of Syria," p. 211. 



CHAPTEE XYI. 

THE CATHEDEALS, AND THE FORMS AND CEREMONIES OF THE 

CHURCH. 

The gorgeous cathedrals and the imposing forms and 
ceremonies of the Catholic Church are objected to by Prot- 
estants. They assert that Christ and His disciples were in 
the habit of preaching and teaching in the oj)en air, in the 
mountains, by the way-side, in the fields, in the streets of 
towns and cities, and on ships, and that they were clad in 
the simple garb of shepherds, fishermen, and publicans. 

At the period of Christ's mission upon earth men were 
enshrouded in sin and false doctrines of all kinds. The 
Jewish priesthood and potentates were powerful, intolerant, 
cruel, and jealous of all innovations upon their religious 
rights, customs, and privileges; and when the coming of the 
Son of man was announced, their ingenuity and cunning 
v/ere taxed to thwart His holy mission, and if possible to 
destroy Him. As a matter of necessity, therefore, Jesus 
and His followers were obliged to address the people when- 
ever and wherever they could find an opportunity. Driven 
from place to place, persecuted at every step, their liberty 
and their lives in continual peril, they had neither the time 
nor the means to erect temples of worship, or to establish 
forms and ceremonies in honor of the living God. Necessity 
alone compelled our divine Master and His apostles to forego 
the employment of grand edifices, imposing forms and cere- 
monies, and many outward tokens of respect which are so 



ETC. 193 

emmently due to the majesty of the Supreme Ruler of heaven 
and earth. Could Christ and His disciples have erected a 
temple of gold and precious stones, whose glittering towers 
should penetrate the very skies and dazzle the nations by 
their brilliancy, they would have delighted in the act for the 
glory of God. Or could they have arrayed themselves in 
purple and brilliants, and marched through the world with 
the word of God emblazoned all over them in letters of purest 
gold and precious stones, as the ministers of the King of 
kings, they would cheerfully have done so for the honor of 
Him who sent them. 

Ordinary propriety and decorum require an earthly 
monarch to maintain his honor, dignity, and influence by 
means of his palaces, his throne, his court, his halls of au- 
dience, and the decorations which pertain to royalty. To 
all this no reasonable subject takes exception. 

Shall less honor and less respect be given to the Most 
High ? Shall we refuse to contribute of our substance for 
the erection of temples, and the establishment of holy cere- 
monies which tend to honor and glorify our Creator ? 

Men build costly houses, and embellish them with splen- 
did furniture, pictures, statuary, and portraits of friends 
now in the spirit-world, and surround themselves with ele- 
gant equipages, liveried servants, rare libraries, and works of 
art, for their own honor and pleasure. Ko one objects to 
these domestic temples, or to these domestic forms, ceremo- 
nies, and displays, but all regard with favor the man whose 
enterprise and industry have enabled him thus to honor him- 
self and his family. 

Let not man, then, refuse to honor and glorify the livino- 
God by establishing costly temples dedicated to His worshi'p, 
embellished with works of art inspired by heaven-born 
genius, and by such poor forms, ceremonies, and other tokens 
of adoration and devotion as humble mortals may be able to 
ofier to the infinite majesty of the Almighty. 

It is undoubtedly true that our heavenly Father vfill re- 
gard with divine favor, and answer the prayers of the de- 
9 



194 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

voted missionary in the remote wilds of the savage, of the 
peasant in his hovel or in his field, or of the mariner on the 
tempestuous ocean, or of the soldier in the midst of his cam- 
paign ; but He will not regard with any less favor those who 
strive to honor and glorify Him by outward tokens of re- 
spect, love, and veneration, as v/ell as by inward sentiments 
of adoration and worship. 

It is the duty of Christians to love, adore, and worship 
God. It is also their duty to honor and glorify His name, 
and to disseminate throughout the world the immutable and 
everlasting truths of His holy Word. It is likewise their 
duty to love their neighbors as themselves, and to direct 
them toward truth, righteousness, and true religion. 

The minds of men are influenced in various ways. Intel- 
lects of a high order, and of high culture, are impressed by 
classical discourses, by the subtilties and refinements of logic, 
by philosophical analyses, comparisons, and deductions. 
Others can be better impressed by an appeal to their imagi- 
nations, their sentiments, and their emotional faculties. But 
by far the greater number are more forcibly influenced by 
more material, tangible, direct, and unintellectual external 
manifestations. 

Present to this last class a pathetic poem, representing an 
orphan child alone in the world, friendless, penniless, and 
sufiering for the necessaries of life, and it will be almost un- 
heeded and unappreciated; but let them meet a similar 
orphan in the street, and their hearts are at once touched, 
and they render instant and substantial aid. 

In order, then, to reach all orders of intellect, and to 
teach the gospel to every creature, it is necessary to bring 
into operation all of the means and appliances of the Church. 
By so doing we honor and glorify God, and subserve His 
cause on earth. 

Reasoning from a worldly point of view, it is evident 
that the tenets of Protestantism, and its mode of worship, 
tend to harden the heart, to repress the more refined and 
generous emotions, and to make men cold, selfish, and non- 



ETC. 195 

demonstrative. The natural tendency of such a religion is 
toward skepticism and indifference. Applied to society and 
to individuals, its influences are detrimental to human hap- 
piness and prosperity. 

The non-demonstrative family man is a cold and uninter- 
esting specimen of humanity, who supplies liis wife and chil- 
dren with shelter, raiment, and food, but denies to them the 
cultivation of those intellectual and emotional faculties which 
a beneficent Creator has planted within them. He consti- 
tutes himself an ideal of what a man should be, and re- 
pudiates and repulses all of those sentiments and emotions 
which proceed from the infinite Fountain of Love. Thus 
arise indifference, ennui, and not unfrequently actual dislike 
and unhappiness among members of the same family. In- 
stead of the ringing, merry laugh, the close embrace, and 
the thousand offices of love and affection, we find grudging 
civilities, chilling words, cold looks, and repelling actions, 
with their train of regrets, recriminations, and general mis- 
eries. Thus much for non-demonstrativeness in the family 
circle. 

The influence of this class of men in ordinary social life is 
less pernicious than in the domestic circle, because they are 
for the most part unpopular and subordinate. So far as their 
influence extends, however, selfishness, hypocrisy, and heart- 
lessness mark their course. Ko benevolent enterprise, no 
charity, no plans for ameliorating the condition of the poor, 
the ignorant, and the distressed, ever meet with their ap- 
proval. They regard poverty, ignorance, and suffering as 
crimes worthy of punishment, and would be shocked to rec- 
ognize such beings as their equals, or at the idea of becom- 
ing ruffled at the contemplation of their miseries and suf- 
erings. They appear to entertain a vague idea that the 
good God created themselves, but that the evil one created 
the others. 

Politically, Machiavelli is a type of this class. From this 
stand-point their characteristics may be summed up under 
the general heads of expediency, cunning, duplicity, treach- 



196 CIIEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

ery, hypocrisy, and tliat the end always justifies the means. 
Such are the statesmen, who serve their rulers and their 
countries so long as such service accords with their own per- 
sonal interests. But when their ambition or their interests 
coincide with the views and projects of some other ruler, 
then are they, together with their kings and countries, in 
market, open to the highest bidder. These are the dema- 
gogues who sow dissensions among nations, citizens, breth- 
ren, and gloat over strife, bloodshed, and devastation. These 
are'the n^en who smile with grim delight when widows and 
orphans wail with anguish for the dead. These are the men 
who peril neither person nor property when war, famine, or 
pestilence assails their country, but from their secure and snug 
retreats look out upon the general wretchedness with calm 
indifference. 

We now glance at this class from a religious point of 

view. 

The non-demonstrative man, when he manifests his char- 
acteristics against his family, his friends, or his country, only 
offends and insults his fellow-men ; but when these character- 
istics are displayed in religion, he sins against and insults his 
Maker. These men deem it derogatory to their dignity and 
their self-respect to humble themselves before the living 
God, or to kneel before the emblems of the crucifixion. 
When they pass by a symbol of the cross, or a representation 
of the cruel death of Him who gave His life for our redemp- 
tion, they walk with heads erect and defiantly, after the 
manner of the subjects of Pontius Pilate when conducting 
the Saviour of the world to execution. 

In order to play his part successfully, the non-demon- 
strative man is obliged to smother all the better feelings 
and instincts of his nature. He repudiates religious senti- 
ment, religious devotion, and emotions of all descriptions, and 
regards with studied coldness those who render homage and 
adoration to God and His sacred things. A commemoration 
of the passion and death of our Saviour is to him a mummery 
Avithout signification. While the true Christian views these 



THE CATHEDEALS, ETC. 197 

solemn ceremonies, and calls to mind at every instant the 
sufferings and sacrifices of the Prince of Peace, Ms heart melts 
with emotions of love and gratitude to his Maker, and he 
pledges himself anew to the holy cause. ISTot so with the 
non-demonstrative man. ISlo member of his body bends be- 
fore the altar or the emblems of God ; no emotions swell his 
soul at the contemplation of objects and ceremonies which 
place vividly before him the teachings, the life, and the death 
of Jesus of Nazareth. He sneers at the emblems of the cruci- 
fixion, whether fixed on the temples of God, or impressed 
daily and hourly by devout hands on the temples of the hu- 
man heart. The wretched human worm begrudges the poor 
tokens and symbols of respect and adoration which the pious 
humbly pay to the majesty of the Infinite. His self-reliant 
and defiant heart dares question the written decrees of the 
Almighty, and to subject the holy mysteries of our Lord 
Jesus Christ to the test of his own reason. 

The non-demonstrative Christian affects simplicity in every 
thing touching his religion. Forms and ceremonies, changes 
of posture, and all mental efforts in the practice of his religion, 
oppress him. He pays his minister for preaching classical 
discourses replete w^ith glittering generalities, but quiet, gen- 
teel, and sedative. Practical allusions respecting the past, 
the present, and the future, are his mortal aversion. 

Such are the men who, for the most part, have embraced 
Protestantism. Should still another set of reformers arise 
and denounce what little remains among Protestant sects of 
the original worship and rites of the Church, and leave the 
whole subject to simple private judgment and self-ministra- 
tion, unincumbered by priestcraft, places of worship, or other 
public manifestations, there would be a general abandonment 
of the present system for the still more simple and less 
troublesome one. Such reforms have already been initiated 
by a modern sect of transcendentalists, under the inspira- 
tion and leadership of talented and eloquent men in the 'Ne^v 
England States. 

Unfortunately for mankind, those doctrines which appeal 



198 CIIEISTlAi^riTY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

to personal convenience, self-complacency, and private judg- 
ment in matters of religions duty, are apt to meet with prompt 
approbation from the multitude. As the chief pursuits in life 
are for worldly pleasures and enjoyments, it is not strange 
that the work of salvation should be restricted to the finest 
point of simplicity and religious sinecurism. 

The Catholic is, par excellence, a demonstrative Christian. 
He prays always— in his church, in his chamber, in his office, 
in his shop, at his labor— and glories in manifesting his devo- 
tion to sacred things at all times and in all places. He is 
never ashamed to acknowledge his faith, or his dependence 
upon the Supreme Being. He does not disdain to call upon 
his priest, his friends, or even the saints and angels in heaven, 
to aid him with their prayers, and he is humbly gratefiil to 
these earthly and heavenly benefactors for their intercessions. 
His religion is like that of the apostles — practical, ever-active, 
ardent, emotional, soul-inspiring. Trace the practical results 
throughout all their ramifications, and they will almost uni- 
versally be found good. 

A certain class of men object to demonstrativeness in all 
forms and in all things. These men pride themselves upon 
their imperturbability, their coolness, their lack of every thing 
like human feeling, passion, sentiment, or emotion. They re- 
gard with contempt the man who weeps at the sight of human 
suffering and distress, or manifests enthusiasm and delight in 
contemplating acts of heroism, noble daring, and disinter- 
ested benevolence. Cool is stamped upon every feature, 
every thought, word, and act ; and if the last trump should 
sound, and the world become illuminated by the last dread 
torch of the Almighty, it is doubtful whether they would 
turn to the right or the left for fear that their equanimity 
might be disturbed. 

This class is an extensive one. In the family group, in 
the social circle, in the church, and in the political arena, it 
exercises a powerful influence in Protestant communities. 
At the family board it is deemed undignified to recognize 
any manifestation of love, affection, or other sentiment which 



THE CATHEDEALS, ETC. 



199 



develops emotion or heart-felt ebullitions of any kind. A 
loving word, a tender look, or an affectionate caress, is recip- 
rocated by a gruff monosyllable, a frown, or a cold repulse ; 
for a smile, a scowl ; for a melting glance, an icy stare ; for 
an affectionate caress, a withering repulse. These are the 
characteristics of a majority of what are termed " men of the 
world," fashionable men, society men, leaders in the high life 
of wealth, religion, and politics. 

And what are necessarily the fruits of these affectations — 
these perversions of the best instincts of the heart ? Love, 
affection, esteem, respect, admiration, all require fuel in kind 
to keep them alive and sustain them in their freshness and 
purity. Deprive them of this natural food, and they pine, 
wither, and decay ; and the rich garden of the heart grows up 
to rank weeds and brambles. 

The human heart is naturally selfish, cold, and inclined to 
wickedness. Left to itself uncontrolled by those influences 
which appeal to reason, conscience, and the elevating emo- 
tions, it becomes a certain prey to the devices of Satan. Had 
the religion which now governs the Church been framed by 
man instead of the Almighty, all inconvenient rules and regu- 
lations would have been omitted, and a liberal, transcendental, 
and comfortable one would have been adopted. What man 
would have invented a religious system which should punish 
with eternal perdition an unrepented violation of one of the 
commands of the decalogue? What man would have estab- 
lished the sacrament of penance, so repugnant to human 
pride and human inclination ? What man^ desirous of the 
progress and welfare of the Church, would have instituted 
the other sacraments and ceremonies as an essential part of 
Christianity ? What man would have made the road which 
leads to heaven, narrow, tortuous, and full of obstructions, 
dangers, temptations, and tribulations,* when he might have 

* When Paul and Barnabas were confirming the souls of the disciples of An- 
tioch, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, they declared to them " that 
we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." — (Acts 
xiv. 22.) 



200 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

opened a thoroughfare as expansive and as seductive as sin 
itself? 

A most potent argument in favor of the divine origin of 
the Catholic Church consists in the fact that her dogmas and 
her discipline clash with the natural instincts and propensities 
of men. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

PAPAL SUPREMACY. 

One of the principal objections of Protestants against the 
Church of Rome is the doctrine of papal supremacy. The 
sum of these objections is, that the Church had no organi- 
zation, no unity, no visibility, no definite ecclesiastical prin- 
ciples, and no working plan or concert of action, during the 
early ages ; but that the entire body of those who professed 
Christianity^ — Donatists, Arians, Pelagians, Marcionites, 'No- 
vatians. Catholics, etc. — constituted the Church. That is, 
those who asserted that Jesus Christ was the true God, and 
those who maintained that He was only a man and a prophet, 
are all to be regarded, according to the objectors, as tree and 
equal members of the one Lord, one Church, one Faith, and 
one Baptism founded by the Son of God. It is claimed that 
the only bond of unity among the Christians of these periods 
was a vague and general belief in the tenets taught by Christ, 
and opposition to the polytheistic doctrines of pagan Rome ; 
that there was no regularly organized body of ministers, no 
definite rule of faith, no uniform mode of worship, no visi- 
ble and generally recognized Church, and no bishop who 
was regarded as the head of the Church. But the proofs 
are ample and conclusive, from both sacred and profane his- 
tory, that the Roman pontiffs have always been recognized 
as the supreme heads of the entire Christian Church, up to 
the revolt of the innovators of the sixteenth century. Vol- 
umes of testimony might be adduced in support of this as- 
9* 



202 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

sertion, but want of space compels us to limit ourselves to 
the citation of a few pertinent facts. 

1. For the practical promulgation and development of 
His doctrines, it is probable that our Saviour adopted the 
most natural and efficient means of accomplishing the object. 
He left nothing to chance, nothing to human caprice, nothing 
vague, doubtful, disorganizing, but a divinely instituted and 
divinely protected ecclesiastical corporation, with its supreme 
chief, and its subordinate ministers and agents, as the special 
means of establishing Christianity among the nations. In 
the establishment and perpetuation of His Church He relied 
upon ordinary human methods and agencies, organized a 
working ministry, taught them the truths He had received 
from the Father, endowed them with special graces and 
powers, and commanded them to preach and teach the same 
doctrines to all nations. In order to secure for this organi- 
zation unity and concert of action, it was necessary that 
there should be a directing and controlling head, a centre of 
unity and action, around which the entire Christian world 
could rally, and which should serve as the representative 
sovereignty of the Church. It was necessary that there 
should be a chief Father and Governor, whose duty it should 
be to preside over, not only the immediate ministers of the 
Church, but the spiritual welfare of the entire Christian fam- 
ily. Had this not been the design of our Saviour, He would 
have made no distinction between the apostl'fes, but would 
have conferred equal powers upon all of them. Instead of 
this, however. He selected from their number one — not St. 
Andrew the eldest, not St. Paul the boldest and most zealous, 
not St. John the most beloved, but Peter — and upon him He 
founded His Church, and unto him, as the chief of the eccle- 
siastical body, He gave the keys, with the assurance that He 
would be with this Church forever. After the ascension, 
Peter assumed and performed the duties of the papal office 
until his martyrdom, a. d. QQ.'^ 

* According to St. Jerome, " Simon Peter, the son of John, of the town 
of Bethsaida, brother of the apostle Andrew, and prince of the apostles, after 



PAPAL BUPEEMACY. 203 

In no other way but this could the Church have per- 
petuated itself. Without a visible and directing head she 
could not have retained her organization, nnity, or existence, 
for a dozen generations. If a ruler and representative and 
administrative head is indispensable to the existence of a na- 
tion, how much more is such a ruler and representative ne- 
cessary in a Church which has for its spiritual subjects all 
the nations of the earth ! Even in the subordinate branches 
of governments, each bureau must have its chief, with 
special powers and functions, or confusion and disorganiza- 
tion v/ould result. In every branch of industry and trade, 
where considerable numbers of men are interested, it is a 
universal custom to appoint a president or governor as head 
and general director of the corporation, to whom all subor- 
dinates report, from whom they receive their orders, and 
around whom the parties interested may concentrate for in- 
formation, instruction, and cooperation. Without such con- 
trolling and executive heads, nations and corporations would 
speedily come to naught. What would be thought of an 
army which should enter upon a campaign without a general- 
in-chief^a supreme and directing head — ^to whom all other 
officers and soldiers were subordinate ? What would be the 
fate of such an army if equal authority and equal powers 
pertained to all of the generals, and each one gave directions 
and pursued plans as he pleased ? What would become of 
its discipline,-unity, concert of action, and efficiency ? Such 
a military organization would meet the approval of no sane 
man. 

For the perpetuation of His Church our Saviour adopted 
the same natural and indispensable organization which is 
universally employed in national, military, industrial, and 
commercial affairs — a corporate body with a supreme and 
governing head. The consummate wisdom of this arrange- 

exercisliig the episcopate over the church of Antioch, went to Kome ; for 
thirty-three years in all he held the sacerdotal chair. Buried at Kome, in the 
Vatican, near the Via Triumphalis, he is honored with the veneration of the 
whole city," — (Cat. Script Eccles.) 



204 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS COIS'FLICTS. 

ment will be appreciated when we contemplate tlie trials 
and perils through which the Church has passed, during the 
first three centuries of Roman persecution, during the dark 
ages when Europe was overrun by the barbarians, and 
during the last four infidel and innovating centuries of the 
Christian era. 

2. An unbroken succession of Bishops of Rome can be 
traced from St. Peter to the present pontifi*, and the suprem- 
acy of these bishops has been acknowledged by all the 23romi- 
nent holy fathers since the days of the apostles. 

It would require many volumes to give in detail all the 
clearly established facts with reference to the apostolic suc- 
cession from St. Peter to the present time. The chain of 
evidence, however, establishing the direct succession from 
the apostles in the Catholic Church is conclusive. This is 
evident, 1st, from the fact that the doctrines and practices 
of the Catholic Church have always coincided j)erfectly with 
those of the Church founded by Christ, presided over by 
Peter after the ascension, and administered by the apostles 
and their pastoral contemporaries ; 2d, from the writings of 
nearly all the fathers of the Church for nearly eighteen 
hundred years ; 3d, from the traditions of the Jews and other 
opponents of Christ, and the most eminent historians of the 
first centuries of our era, like Eusebius, Irenaeus, etc. ; 4th, 
all the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures clearly indicate 
that the Catholic is the true apostolic Church. - 

To those who desire to become acquainted v/ith the de- 
tails respecting the appointment of bishops of the churches 
by the apostles, and of their successors down to the present 
day, we beg leave to refer to the following works : Sconce's 
" Testimony of Antiquity," Kenrick's "Primacy," and other 
reputable authorities. 

The scope of this work only permits us to present a brief 
outline of the chain of testimony relating to the apostolic 
succession, as follows : 

1. After our blessed Saviour had delivered to mankind 
His sacred doctrines, and presented a life-long example of 



PAPAL SUPKEMACY. 205 

perfect holiness on earth and love to man, He called together 
His apostles and informed them that the end of His mission 
drew near. At this interview He selected from the others 
His favorite apostle St. Peter, and created him the head of 
His Church. 

DuriDg his lifetime, St. Peter, as head bishop of the 
Church, ordained his subordinate bishops, priests, and deacons, 
sent them to the diiferent nations as ministers, gave them 
instructions and advice as to their missions, received their 
reports, and was regarded by all the disciples as the author- 
ized and supreme head and representative of our Lord Jesus 
Christ on earth. 

2. From the apostles, the episcopate descended next in 
order to Linus, a. d. 66, to whom St. Paul alludes in his Epis- 
tles to Timothy. 

3. The successor of Linus, was Anacletus (or Cletus, as 
he is termed by Tertuliian), a. d. 18. 

4. From Anacletus the episcopate descended to Clement, 
A. D. 91, the third head of the Church from the apostles. 
At this period, divisions and dissensions arose among the 
Corinthians respecting the tenets of the Church, and a re- 
formatory council of the Church was held, authoritative let- 
ters were sent them, the errors of faith were corrected, and 
peace was restored. This was probably among the first re- 
formatory efforts of the Church. St. Clem.ent had seen and 
heard the apostles preach. 

5. Evaristus succeeded to Clement as the fourth head 
bishop of the Church, a. d. 100. 

6. To Evaristus succeeded Alexander L, a. d. 109, as the 
fifth head of the Church. 

7. To Alexander succeeded Sixtus L, as the sixth from the 
apostles, A. D. 119. 

8. To Sixtus succeeded Telesphorus, a. d. 127, who suf- 
fered martyrdom, as the seventh head of the Church. 

9. To Telesphorus succeeded Hyginus, the eighth remove 
from the apostles, a. d. 139. 

10. To Hyginus succeeded Pius, the ninth representative 
from the apostles, a. d. 149. 



206 CIIJRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

11. To Pius succeeded Anicetus, as the tenth head of the 
Church, A. D. 157. 

12. To Anicetus succeeded Soter, the eleventh place from 
the apostles, a. d. 168, 

13. To Soter succeeded Eleutherius, the twelfth head of 
the Church after the apostles, in 177. Ancient Britain first de- 
rived her real Christianity, according to the testimony of the 
Venerable Bede, from the two legates of Pope Eleutherius, 
viz., St. Fugatius and St. Damianus, sent to King Lucius at 
his own special request. These legates baptized the king 
and his household, and made many proselytes in his domin- 
ions. If there had existed any other authorized bishop or 
church in England or elsewhere to whom the British king 
could have applied for instruction in the mysteries and prac- 
tices of the true Christian faith, would he have sent his mes- 
sengers, Elvanus and Medwinus to the See of Rome for aid 
and instruction ? There were subordinate bishops nearer 
home, like St. Iren^us, bishop of Lyons, and others, but 
King Lucius availed himself of the supreme authority and 
head of the Church, in his effoi^ts to indoctrinate his subjects 
with the truths of Christianity. 

The writings of SS. Clement, a. d. 91, of Ignatius, a. d. 
100, of St. Polycarp, a. d. 110, of St. Dionysius of Corinth, 
A. D. 168, of St. Irenaeus, a. d. 177, of Praxeas, a. d. 201, 
of TertuUian, a, d. 204, of Origen, a. d. 230, of St. Hippol- 
ytus, A. D. 230, of St. Cyprian, A. d. 250, and numerous 
others, clearly demonstrate the facts herein detailed respect- 
ing the apostolic succession. 

14. The next pope after Eleutherius was St. Victor, a. d. 
193. This pope was peculiarly rigid in sustaining the author- 
ity of the Church. Among the acts which were objected to, 
even by such bishops as St. Iren^us, during his administra- 
tion, we cite that of " threatening the Asiatic Church with 
excommunication, for observing the Easter after the Jewish 
custom." All authorities agree, however, that his actual 
decrees were always respected by the entire Church. 

15. The next pope after St. Victor was Zephyrinus, who 



PAPAL SUPEEMACY, 207 

succeeded to the papacy a. d. 202. His decrees, and Ms 
authoritative communications to the Church, indicated that 
he regarded himself as the legitimate successor of St. Peter. 
(See the writings of Tertullian, Origen, and others upon this 
point.) 

It would be highly interesting to trace the unbroken suc- 
cession of Roman pontiffs from St. Peter to Pius IX., to 
examine the events of each period, and thus to place before 
the reader the vast benefits which these holy men have con» 
ferred upon mankind. A work of this kind would occupy 
thousands of pages, and would not only present a history of 
the Roman pontiffs, of the apostolic succession, and of the 
Church, but a continuous history of contests of peoples 
against aristocrats, of popular rights against despotic usurpa- 
tions, vntJi the entire influence of the Boman pontiffs and the 
Roman Church always on the side of the people. 

Many Protestants have asserted, among them M. Guizot, 
to whom we have before alluded, that there was no regularly . 
organized Church, or priesthood, or religious code, during 
the first three hundred years of the Christian era ; and there- 
fore that there was no regular succession of Roman bishops. 

It is quite true that the first Christians had no public 
churches, no monasteries, no colleges, no revenues, and no 
open councils ; but, as we have already observed, M. Guizot 
errs grossly when he asserts that they had " no settled form 
of doctrine, no settled rules of discipline, no body of magis- 
trates." We have shown from the Scriptures that Jesus 
Christ did com.municate to His apostles a " settled form of 
doctrine " in His sermon upon the mount, in the ten com- 
mandments, in the Lord's prayer, and in the sacraments 
which He instituted. When He instructed and disciplined 
the chosen twelve in His fixed and everlasting truths, and 
then commissioned and sent them as His agents and minis- 
ters to preach and teach the nations all those things which 
they had heard from Him, He undoubtedly did organize a 
" body of ecclesiastical magistrates," endowed with a divine- 
ly settled " form of doctrine," and divinely settled " rules 



208 CHEISTIANITY AlW ITS CONFLICTS. 

of discipline." The apostles received their appointments as 
ministers and missionaries of the Church directly from the 
lips of Christ. Had not the Author and Founder of the 
Christian Church full jurisdiction over it ? Did He found 
this Church without any " settled form of doctrine," any 
" settled rules of discipline," or any " body of magistrates " 
to represent and administer it ? Such an idea is entirely 
untenable. The apostles had heard Christ announce person- 
ally all His doctrines, His rules of discipline, and His mode 
of propagating Christianity. These doctrines, these rules, 
this mode of propagation, and the legitimate body of magis- 
trates were then permanently settled, and have ever since 
remained substantially the same. In the first three centu- 
ries of pagan Rome, as well as during the darkness and bar- 
barism of the middle ages, and in distant savage missionary 
regions, the complete machinery of the Church, with the 
forms and ceremonies pertaining to it, could not always be 
brought into requisition ; but they all existed in the sanctu- 
ary of the Church, ready to be more perfectly developed 
when Christianity could emerge from her hiding-places in 
the earth to the light of day. 

St. Paul commissioned and sent Timothy, Titus, and other 
fathers to ordain bishops, priests, and deacons in every place, . 
with authority to ordain and confer the powers of the priest- 
hood upon other faithful men. Were not the bishops, priests, 
and deacons thus created a regularly constituted and author- 
itative " body of magistrates " ? 

While this organized body of ministers were attempting 
to preach and teach the new gospel, they were pursued from 
place to place, persecuted, stoned, imprisoned, and tormented 
by their adversaries ; but, in spite of all this, their organiza- 
tion remained unbroken, and the ordinances and offices of the 
priesthood were faithfully administered. Also, when their 
successors were hunted from catacomb to catacomb under 
the streets of imperial Rome, the priesthood still preserved 
its organization, administered the sacraments, and operated 
as the visible Church of God on earth. They could not 



PAPAL SUPEEMACY. 209 

boast of magnificent cathedrals and churches, or institutions 
of learning, or of rich oiFerings from the faithful, by means of 
which they could render more honor and better service to God ; 
but they could still elect a supreme pontiff, still ordain bish- 
ops, priests, and deacons ; still preach, teach, and administer 
the sacraments as the apostles had done before them. The 
first Christians were from the ranks of the people — poor and 
humble fishermen, artisans, laborers — and if their religion 
and their organization have but little space in the classical 
pages of Pliny, Martial, Tacitus, Seneca, or Quintilian, it is 
because these polished writers were of the patrician class, 
pagans, devoted to the luxuries and pleasures of the world, 
and flatterers of the sensual aristocrats of the empire. 

From the vmtings of the fathers of the Church the testi- 
mony is overwhelming, that the supremacy of the papal See, 
and the doctrines of the Catholic Church, have always been 
recognized and sustained. If space permitted, we could fill a 
volume with quotations from the writings of these holy men 
in proof of the fact. When it is remembered that some of 
these early fathers had listened to the- preaching of the apos- 
tles, enjoyed their friendship, been ordained by them, and 
finally suffered persecutions, poverty, privations, and martyr- 
dom in the cause, it will be admitted that their opinions and 
their assertions are entitled to entire respect and confidence. 
For example, St. Clement was an intimate friend of the 
apostle St. Peter, and was designed by the latter as his suc- 
cessor. St. Ignatius was a friend and disciple of the apostle 
St. John. He succeeded St. Peter as bishop of Antioch. St. 
Polycarp, according to Irenjsus, " was instructed by apostles, 
and lived in familiar friendship with many who had seen tlie 
Lord." St. Iren^us was a disciple of Polycarp, and thus re- 
ceived his instructions from a friend and disciple of St. John and 
other apostles. As a type of the opinions of the early fathers, 
we present the following extracts from the writings of a few of 
those who received their views and inspiration directly from 
our Lord or His immediate disciples. Eusebius, the Arian, and 
St. Irenceus, both assert that when Clement Avas bishop of 



210 CHEiSTiANiry and its conflicts. 

Rome, A. D. 95, there was a difference of opinion upon some 
doctrinal point among the Corintliians, and that they ap- 
pealed to Clement as head of the Church, and accepted his 
decision as authoritative respecting the matter in dispute. 
He sent three legates to them with instructions to investigate 
the question, and then to report to him. Upon this report a 
decision was rendered, the paternal mandate was submitted 
to, and peace and concord was again restored. In this early- 
example the supreme authority of Clement was practically 
acknowledged, and precisely the same course of procedure 
adopted, as has since been employed by the subsequent popes 
under similar circumstances. The disciple of St. John, St. 
Ignatius, a. d. 100, says, " I exhort you that ye study to do 
all things in a divine unanimity, the hishop Jiolding presidency 
in the place of Gocl^ and the presbyters in the place of the 
council of the apostles ; and the deacons, most dear to me, 
intrusted with the service of Jesus Christ." St. Polycarp, 
A. D. 110, also went to Rome to obtain the decision of Pope 
Anicetus respecting the proper observance of Easter. The 
decision of the pontiff was regarded and obeyed by St. Poly- 
carp and his friends as authoritative and final. St. Irenseus, 
the disciple of Polycarp, who lived a. d. 177, writes as folio avs : 
"But as it would be a very long task to enumerate, in such 
a volume as this, the successions of all the churches, pointing 
out that tradition which the greatest and most ancient, and 
universally known. Church of Rome — founded and consti- 
tuted by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul — 
derives from the apostles, and that faith announced to all 
men, which through the succession of her bishops has come 
down to us, we confound all of those who, in any way, 
whether through self-complacency or vainglory, or blindness, 
or j)erverse opinion, assemble otherwise than as behooveth 
them. For to this Church, on account of more potent prin- 
cipality, it is necessary that every church, that is, those who 
are on every side faithful, resort, in which Church ever, by 
those who are on every side, has been preserved that tradi- 
tion which is from the apostles The blessed apostles, 



PAPAL SUPREMACY. 211 

then, having founded and built up that Church, committed 
the sacred office of the episcopacy "to Linus, of whom Paul 
makes mention in his Epistles to Timothy." 

After enumerating the succession of popes from Linus to 
Eleutherius, the thirteenth from the apostles, Irenseus re- 
marks : " By this order and by this succession, both that tra- 
dition which is in the Church from the apostles, and the 
preaching of the truth, have come down to us. And this is 
a most complete demonstration, that the vivifying faith is 
one and the same, which, from the apostles even until now, 
has been preserved in the Church and transmitted in truth- 
fulness." 

In the year 204, Tertullian addressed the Roman pontiff 
in these words : " Supreme pontiff, bishop of bishops, the 
most blessed pope ; " and alludes to his presidency over the 
other churches. 

In the year of our Lord 250, St. Cyprian taught, " that 
the Church has one head, and one source, and one mother, 
namely, Borne, which is the Zocus Petri, the Cathedra Petri, 
the Ecclesia Princijjalis, the Radix, and Caput of the Church. 
, . . . The See of Rome has universal jurisdiction." 

Even Marcion, the heretic, acknowledged the supremacy 
and authority of the Roman See, when he applied to Pope 
Hyginus for a restoration to the Church, after he had been 
excommunicated, a. d. 120. 

St. Athanasius writes, A. d. 330: "Peter alone of all the 
apostles left an actual successor, who, therefore, succeeded 
not only to his apostolic power, but to his headship, or suprem- 
acy over the Church." 

Again, St. Optatus of Milevis, says : " In the city of Rome, 
on Peter the first was the episcopal chair conferred, wherein 
might sit of all the apostles the head, Peter ; whence also he 
was called Cephas ; that in that one chair unity might be 
preserved by all ; nor the other apostles, each contend for a 
distinct chair for himself; and that whoso should set up an- 
other chair against the single chair, might at once be a 
schismatic and a sinner. 



212 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CO^fFLICTS. 

" Peter, therefore, first filled that individual chair, which 
is the first of the marks of the Church ; to him succeeded 
Linus ; to Linus succeeded Clement ; to Clement, Anacletus," 
etc. 

Again, St. John Chrysostom says : " And yet after so 
great an evil (Peter's denial of Christ), He (Christ) again 
raised him to his former honor, and intrusted to his hand the 
primacy over the Universal Church." 

Again, St. Augustine says : " In the Catholic Church the 
succession of priests from the very chair of the apostle Peter 
— to whom the Lord after His resurrection committed His 
sheep to be fed — down even to the present bishop, keeps 
me," etc. 

Origen lived in the third century, and his writings show 
that he always appealed to the traditions of the Church for 
correct views upon religious subjects. 

SS. Alexander, Ambrose, Damascus, Jerome, Cyril, and 
numerous other learned historians and fathers of the third, 
fourth, and fifth centuries, always recognized and defended 
the Church and the papal supremacy, and opposed the here- 
sies of Arius, I^ovatian, and Marcianus. 

Almost innumerable extracts might be adduced to the 
same purport, but we have, been obliged to confine ourselves 
to the citation of the opinions of a few prominent fathers and 
historians who were contemporaneous with the apostles, and 
whose personal knowledge of the received doctrines of their 
day renders their testimony peculiarly valuable. 

What was the object of our Saviour in establishing a 
church and a priesthood? If we consider that the object of 
His mission to earth was to present mankind with a new dis- 
pensation, a new religious creed, and a new form of worship, 
we may understand why a church and a priesthood were 
necessary to accomplish successfully and practically the di- 
vine object. A spiritual kingdom was to be established, 
embracing in its jurisdiction the entire world — a kingdom 
with new and stringent principles, new habits and observ- 
ances, and which was antagonistic to all the ideas of the 



PAPAL SUPKEMACY. 213 

period. By no other mode could the divine object have 
been accomplished, than that actually adopted by Jesus 
.Christ in the establishment of a Church endowed with all 
truth, an organized priesthood with a supreme and govern- 
ing head, and a subordinate army of Christian pastors and 
laymen. By no other arrangement could efficiency and 
harmony have been maintained in this vast spiritual do- 
minion than by a universally acknowledged set of laws, a 
sovereign to administer the government, and a w^orld-wide 
nation of faithful and ofeedient subjects. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

PAPAL INFALLIBILITY. 

By the expression infalUhility of the pope^ nearly all 
Protestants understand that the Catholic Church regards all 
the words and acts of the popes as infallible, and that they 
can do no wrong. Every well-informed Protestant theologian 
is fully aware that no pope has ever made any pretension of 
this kind, or has ever attempted to exercise any such prerog- 
ative ; and that there is nothing in the canons and decrees 
of the Catholic Church v/hich recognizes any such powers, as 
pertaining to the papal office. These men, therefore, are 
guilty of wanton deception, in permitting their followers to 
imbibe and hold ideas so erroneous toward the ancient and 
original Church, and her authorized representative. 

The pope possesses no infallibility, no authority, and no 
powers, except such as pertain to him as a constituent and 
essential portion of the Church. So far as relates to his legit- 
imate connection with the Church, his functions, duties, and 
authority as supreme bishop, and chief pastor of the univer- 
sal Christian flock, he is infallible, provided he complies with 
the customary formalities and requirements of the canons of 
the Church, and violates none of the divine laws. As the vicar 
of Christ, and the successor of St. Peter, the pope possesses 
the primacy of jurisdiction, in virtue of the declaration of 
our Saviour ; but in tlie exercise of this jurisdiction, he cannot 
be either despotic or arbitrary, because no act or decree, or 
dogma, is ever regarded as ex cathedra^ and binding as an 



PAPAL INFALLIBILITY. 215 

article of faith, except when he has complied with the fol- 
lowing conditions : 

1. He must consult with the chief bishops and theologians 
of the Church. 2. He must use every possible means for 
procuring accurate information respecting the subject in 
question. 3. He must abide by all the characteristic for- 
malities in his investigations and decisions. 4. He must con- 
fine himself to questions of faith. 5. He must test the moot- 
ed point by a careful examination and comparison of the 
Holy Scriptures and tradition. 6. He must be quite certain 
that he is right in his conclusion. 7. He must be sure that 
the subject addresses itself to the entire Church. 8. He must 
not invalidate any previous dogmatic decree of any of his pre- 
decessors in the holy See, or of the oecumenical councils. 9. 
His decision must be confirmed by a general council, or by the 
entire Church. 

When Christ established His Church, He endowed it with 
all His written and unwritten truths, and placed St. Peter 
at the head of it as His earthly vicar and representative. 
He promised to remain with it forever, that the Holy Spirit 
should preside over it as its perpetual guardian and defender, 
and that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. We 
have repeatedly alluded to these vital facts, because they 
stand at the foundation of Catholicity, and because they ought 
to be indelibly impressed upon the minds of all Christians. 
We refer to them in this place, that the reader may clearly 
see that this divinely founded, divinely endowed, and di- 
vinely protected Church must of necessity be permanent, 
unchangeable, infallible. To doubt this, would be to doubt 
the sincerity of Christ in giving His apostles His positive 
promise, or His ability to fulfil it. Certainly no one doubts 
the infallibility of a Church thus founded, thus endowed, 
thus guarded, l^o errors of doctrine, or falsehoods, or 
abuses can enter into and take possession of a Church over 
which the Spirit of Truth keeps watch and guard, and with 
which the Son of God solemnly declared He would remain 
forever. Had not Jesus Christ the power thus to fulfil His 



216 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

promise, thus to remain with His Church, thus to mairxtain its 
integrity and unity, to the end of the world ? If the response 
is affirmative, then this Church must be infallible. 

What constitutes this Church ? Undoubtedly its religious 
doctrines, both written and unwritten, and its ecclesiastical 
organization, with its supreme chief, and its subordinate 
officers and laymen. In founding this Church upon St. Peter, 
and placing him at the head of it as vicar, by special order, 
our Saviour constituted the holy See and its occupant as an 
essential portion of the Church itself Therefore, it is that 
Catholics hold that the pope, as a part of the Church, is infal- 
lible in all matters of faith and morals, except in the exam- 
ples we have enumerated. The Church cannot err, because 
the Spirit of Truth ever animates it; because Christ always 
remains with it; and because of the divine promises touching 
its perpetual integrity and preservation. As divinely consti- 
tuted and essential elements of the Church, her presiding 
rulers cannot err in the exercise of their legitimate functions, 
because they are the legitimate earthly representatives of 
Christ, and because they are guarded and preserved in the 
ways of truth by the Founder of Christianity. For these 
reasons the popes have always been in accord with all the 
general oecumenical councils which have been held respecting 
articles of faith and morals. For these reasons all those 
principles of Christianity which Christ presented to the 
Church have ever remained immutable and infallible. For 
these reasons, the one true Church has ever existed, still 
exists, and will continue to exist as the mother and mistress 
of all churches, until the consummation of days. 

As a man, a theologian, an orator, or an essayist, discon- 
nected with his legitimate functions as supreme bishop of the 
Church, the words or the published sentiments of a pope 
have no higher authority than those of ordinary bishops and 
theologians. This fact has repeatedly been acknowledged 
by the popes themselves, by the councils, and by learned 
Catholic fathers and theologians of all ages. In his Eire7ii- 
Gon^ Dr. Pusey does the Catholic Church great injustice by 



PAPAL mFALLIBILITY. 217 

insinuating that all opinions uttered or written by the popes 
are regarded by Catholics as infallible and binding as ar- 
ticles of faith. The popes have never pretended that every 
opinion they might utter or publish, especially when such 
opinions are expressed without the characteristic formalities, 
and without complete and thorough investigation and knowl- 
edge, should be regarded as oracular. All accusations of 
this kind are erroneous, and are made thoughtlessly, or with 
a view of casting odium upon the holy See. The most zeal- 
ous defenders of the prerogatives of the papacy, teach a 
doctrine quite the contrary of this. All agree that when the 
pope speaks or writes as a private doctor, he is not infallible. 
Thus Benoit XIV., in the preface to his books entitled Be 
Synodo Diocesana, writes : " We willingly subscribe to the 
doctrine of the excellent writer, Melchior Cano, when he says, 
' When the popes publish a work upon any subject, they 
express their sentiments like other learned men ; but in these 
writings they are not regarded as judges of faith.' " 

Pope Gregory XVI. remarks that, " even in a definition 
where the sovereign pontiff pronounces as supreme judge, he 
expresses himself sometimes as a private doctor ; for example, 
when he seeks to support his definition by proofs and theo- 
logical reasonings. The pope, then, is only a simple theo- 
logian, although eminently worthy of respect." * Pope Greg- 
ory did not regard any papal decree, even when expressed 
ex cathedra^ as a veritable dogmatic decision, or binding as 
an article of Catholic faith, which did not pertain to a ques- 
tion of faith, which was not promulgated with an entire 
certainty and confidence of its correctness, which was not 
regarded as obligatory upon the consciences of the faithful, 
which was not addressed to the entire Church, and which 
was not perfected in due form, and for the fulfilment of a 
definite object. 

Pope Innocent IV. gave full liberty to other writers to 
attack, criticise, and refute, if they were able, the opinions 

* Etudes Kelig. Hist, Feb. 1866, p. 282. 
10 



218 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS COITFLICTS. 

expressed in any of his works which were written during his 
pontificate. 

In the proceedings of the Council of Trent, as well as of 
those of previous general councils, free and constant inter- 
course and consultations upon all subjects before the coun- 
cils, have been held between the members of the councils and 
the sovereign pontiifs. Occasionally, when the pope has 
been in doubt respecting a mooted point, he has referred the 
final decision of it to the council, confirmed it with the 
pontifical seal, and then announced it as a dogma of the 
Church. This fact proves clearly that neither the govern- 
ment of the Church nor the authority of the pope is despotic 
or arbitrary. As a writer in Mudes Belig. Hist, et Lit.^ 
for March, 1866, page 284, well remarks: "Neither the 
popes, nor the oecumenical councils, ever proceed to acts of 
such high importance (decisions respecting articles of faith) 
without making thorough preliminary examinations, with a 
view of ascertaining with precision the present and past 
teachings of the Church, because it is the assistance, and not 
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which has been promised 
them. Bellarmin exacts these examinations under penalty of 
nullity in the oecumenical councils ; and because the Council 
of Constance did not proceed with this maturity in its fourth 

session, he rejected the decree passed during this session 

The intervention of the holy See in the nomination of bishops, 
in the celebration of councils j and in ecclesiastical proced- 
ures, is a powerful means of preserving the unity of commu- 
nion and faith in the Church. If this intervention should 
cease, it is easy to foresee that rivalries, contentions, and doc- 
trinal disputes would soon occur. If the primacy of the holy 
See ought to efiect any thing, it is to prevent, or at least to 
suppress these evils. This is why this intervention is a nat- 
ural consequence of the primacy of jurisdiction, and it is, in 
this respect, truly a divine right. If this intervention is sup- 
pressed, something else must be substituted in its place ; for 
primacy of jurisdiction, which is the foundation of ecclesiasti- 
cal unity, ought to be efiicacious and to manifest itself by acts 



PAPAL INFALLIBILITY. 219 

of authority. Its mode of operation ought to vary accord- 
ing to times, places, and the laws of the Church ; but the 
principle always remains the same, and this principle which 
consists in the fact that the pope stands in the place of Jesus 
Christ as the good pastor of His sheep and His flock, is cer- 
tainly divine." * 

To insure the stability of governments, certain discre- 
tionary powers are, by common consent, conferred upon em- 
perors, kings, and presidents. Politically speaking, they are 
regarded as the fathers and rulers of their subjects; and in 
matters pertaining to the safety and welfare of the national 
family, private and arbitrary decisions are often rendered, 
and the affairs of government administered according to these 
decisions. Without such authority on the part of rulers, 
there would be no stability or permanency for governments. 
The rule applies with equal force to the government of a 
church. The father of the universal Church must possess 
a certain amount of authority, and certain discretionary pow- 
ers in the administration of the government of the Church, 
in order to secure its unity and perpetuity. This rule coin- 
cides with the universal practice of the world in the manage- 
ment of ail important secular organizations whether national, 
local, or individual. 

Independently of the divine promises of protection and 
preservation touching the integrity, unity, and perpetuity of 
the Church, it is so hedged about by canonical laws and pre- 
cautionary requisitions and safeguards, that it is not in the 
power of a pope to introduce into the Church, as an article 
of faith, any essential error or abuse. Whenever serious dan- 
gers have threatened the Church, or differences of opinion 
have arisen respecting essential points of doctrine, it has 
been the imiform custom of the sovereign pontiffs to convene 
general councils of bishops and theologians to aid them with 
their advice, and furnish them with such information and 
such reliable facts as should enable them to arrive at correct 
conclusions. As an instance in point, we cite an extract from 



220 CHKISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

the Bull oflndiction of the Council of, Trent, in which Paul 
in., after alluding to the lamentable dissensions and wars 
which were then distracting Christendom, writes as follows : 
" Wherefore, having been, as we have said, called upon to 
guide and govern the bark of Peter, in so great a tempest, 
and in the midst of so violent an agitation of the waves of 
heresies, dissensions, and wars, and not relying sufficiently 
on our own strength, we, first of all, cast our cares upon the 
Lord, * that He might sustain us, and furnish our souls with 
firmness and strength, our understanding with prudence and 
wisdom. Then, recalling to mind that our predecessors, men 
endowed with admirable wisdom and sanctity, had often, in 
the extremest perils of the Christian commonweal, had re- 
course to oecumenical councils and general assemblies of bish- 
ops, as the best and most opportune remedy, we also fixed 
our mind on holding a general council; .... having an al- 
most assured hope that, when assembled there in the name 
of the Lord, He, as He promised, would he in the midst of us, f 
and, in His goodness and mercy, easily dispel, by the breath 
of His mouth, all the storms and dangers of the times." 

Before Pope Pius IX. rendered his definite decision re- 
specting the immaculate conception, he consulted the bishops 
of the whole world, obtained the iropinions and advice, and 
the sentiments of those in their dioceses. He also personally 
examined with the utmost care the Holy Scriptures, the 
traditions of the Church, and the writings of the Fathers, be- 
fore arriving at a definite conclusion. 

Our opponents aver that there have been wicked and 
corrupt popes, and therefore that their opinions and acts 
cannot, and should not, be regarded as authoritative, much 
less infallible; and that the Church which they represent 
cannot be the true Church. 

In response we assert : 

1. That we have the positive declaration of Jesus Christ 
that this Church, with its sacred truths, and its organized 
priesthood, should exist forever under the divine protection; 

* Ps. liv. 23. f Matt, xviii. 20. 



PAPAL mFALLIBILITY. 221 

and that no acts of individuals, whether they be popes, bish- 
ops, priests, monarchs, or even the powers of darkness, should 
prevail against it. 

2. All the essential doctrines of the Church are so 
firmly settled and established by former pontiffs and oecu- 
menical councils, and the authority of the holy See is so com- 
pletely hedged around by precautionary requisitions, that no 
pope, however bad he might be, could successfully pervert 
or corrupt the divine precepts and ordinances of the Church. 

3. If an unprincipled pope were to violate all the com- 
mandments of the decalogue daily, and place the papal coro- 
net upon his brow to aid him in serving the devil, yet 
he could not invalidate the solemn promise of Christ, he 
could not prevail against the Church, he coidd not set aside 
or expel from its sanctuary — the abode of the Spirit of 
Truth — a single precept or a single jot or tittle of those holy 
truths which the Father in heaven gave to Christ, and which 
Christ gave to the apostles and to the Church. Individual 
representatives and ministers of God may err, but the immu- 
table truths of Christianity are written by the finger of Jesus 
Christ upon the everlasting tablets of the Church, and are 
there sacredly guarded by God Himself. 

4. When on earth Christ had among His immediate rep- 
resentatives, ministers, friends, and personal appointees, a 
desperately wicked and corrupt apostle — a liar, a thief, a 
traitor, and a murderer — Judas Iscariot ; but the crimes of 
this man did not invalidate the divine teachings, or give 
cause for the breaking of the unity, harmony, and integrity 
of the apostolic organization. Neither should the crimes or 
the defection of a pope impair the unity and the integrity of 
the same teachings as they have been perpetuated in the 
Church. If one of the trusted apostles of our Saviour thus 
proved recreant to his high calling, would it be strange if 
other corrupt apostles should manifest themselves in the 
Church during a period of eighteen centuries ? Ought we 
to expect more of the representatives of the Church during 
its days of trial and persecution in the mediseval ages, than 



222 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

existed in the same Churcii during the lifetime of its divine 
Founder? 

The jurisdiction of the pope is confined solely to matters 
appertaining to the Church, like articles of faith and morals. 
As a component part of the Church, when he exercises his 
authority within the prescribed limits, in due form, and with 
the characteristic formalities and requisite precautions, or in 
accordance with the advice and instructions of oecumenical 
councils, his decisions are infallible. But in all matters out- 
side of the jurisdiction of the Church, in all opinions he may 
utter or publish, independently of the prescribed and cus- 
tomary rules, in all expressions or acts which are antagonis- 
tic to the laws and commandments of God, or to the settled 
decisions of previous popes and councils upon all questions 
whatever, where diligent and thorough investigation has not 
been made, where doubts exist upon the subject, or where it 
is not addressed to the entire Church, he is not infallible^ but 
is to be regarded as a private doctor and theologian. 

We shall conclude this chaf)ter by presenting to the 
reader the opinions of one of the most eminent and author- 
itative theologians of the Catholic Church upon papal su- 
premacy, Yeron. 

Upon this subject Veron writes thus : " In fact, it is clear, 
from Bellarmin himself, that ' it has never been defined by the 
Church that the pope is infallible when unassisted by a gen- 
eral council^ nor that any doctrine advanced and proposed 
by him, is, in consequence of such proposal, an article of 
Catholic faith.' All divines, consequently, are agreed, as 
Bellarmin allows, that papal infallibility is no doctrine of 
the Catholic Church." 

" JVo Decretals of the Roman pontiffs which form the 
body of Canon La%o — as the six booJ^s of Decretals, the 
Clementines^ Extr an ag antes, etc., no bulls issued more recent- 
ly of these Decretals, by the successors of jSt. Deter, are of 
sufficient authority to prove any doctrine an article of Cath- 
olic faith. [NTo doctrine is of faith because it happens to 
have been taught by the pope in one of the above-mentioned 



PAPAL mFALLIBILITT. 223 

works. The reason is clear. The pope, in whatever char- 
acter, or however solemnly he may give his opinion, even 
in scholastic phraseology, ex cathedra, is not the universal 
Church, and, consequently, whatever may be his private 
opinion, and however declared, such opinion is not, on that 
account, propounded by the Catholic Church as an article of 
her belief. And, observe that this is so clearly acknowledged 
by all theologians, that any one who should presume to ad- 
vance a contrary opinion would be an innovator, and expose 
himself to the censures of the Church, as a broacher of new 
doctrine." * 

Bellarmin declares, " that the pope, even speaking as the 
successor of St. Peter, or as pope, may teach heresy, when 
he takes upon himself to define any thing without the con- 
currence of a general council ; and even be an actual and 
formal heretic." f 

Pope Adrian VL, Bellarmin, Gerson, Almain, De Castro, 
and many other eminent theologians, according to Yeron, 
" have placed the infallibility of the Church, in matters of 
faith, not in the pope, but in the universal Church, or rather 
in a general council." 

" Ao decision of a provincial council, though the pope 
preside at it personally, or hy his legates, is an article of 
Catholic faith. In fact, such a council is not the universal 
Church; and consequently the doctrine proposed by it is 
not thereby proposed by the universal Church, and is 
not, consequently, an article of Catholic faith. It would, 
however, become such, if the opinion of the Church were 
clearly shown, from proper sources, to have been pronounced 
in its favor." J . . ." However, as the authority, both of the 
pope and of provincial councils, is very great, their decisions 
are to be received with a corresponding respect." § 

" A^or are all practices of the Church, even of the univer- 

* " The Eule of Faith," p. 12. 

f Bellarmin, lib. iv. de Pont. Kom., cap. 2, p. 209, torn. i. Colon. Agrip. 
An. 1628. 

X " The Rule of Faith," p. 16. § Ibid., p. 17. 



224 CHEISTIANTTY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

sal Churchy a sufficient ground for an article of Catholic 
faith. This is clear, since the second condition of the rule 
of faith is wanting ; these practices do not propose a doc- 
trine to be believed, but a custom to be observed. . . . Hence 
the Church may make what alterations she pleases in these 
observances, resting, as they do, on merely human and prob- 
able grounds. . . . But decrees of faith are immutable, and, 
once propounded, cannot possibly be nullified." * 

" For a doctrine to be of faith," says Bellarmin, "it must 
have been expressly defined by the general council to be an 
article of Catholic faith." f 

Bellarmin and other great Catholic theologians declare 
that no decree of a pope or a general council is binding as an 
article of Catholic faith which does not pertain to the Church, 
or which is not general, or addressed to the whole Church. 
Kor is any opinion expressed, or act performed by a pope or 
a general council infallible, respecting any subject or individ- 
ual, unless the above-named conditions are complied with, 
and all proper sources of information upon the question have 
been fully examined. 

* " The Rule of Faith," pp. 17, 18. 

f Bellarmin, lib. ii., De Con., c. 17, p. 267. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

PAPAL INTERFERENCE IN SECULAR AFFAIRS. 

In almost every recorded instance of pontifical interfe- 
rence with civil rulers, it will be found that the cause of 
religion, justice, liberty, and humanity has been subserved, 
Grotius and other writers on the laws of nations hold " that 
a civilized people may interfere, even by force of arms, to 
prevent a continuance of savage outrages." 

"An unjust law," says St. Augustine, "does not appear 
to be a law." And such laws, according to Balmes,* " are 
not binding in conscience, unless, perhaps, for the avoidance 
of scandal and trouble." From the writings of St. Thomas 
of Aquin, St. Augustine, as well as from Holy Writ and tra- 
dition, Balmes deduces the following general rules : 

" 1. We cannot, under any circumstances, obey the civil 
power, when its commands are opposed to the divine law. 

" 2. When laws are unjust, they are not binding in con- 
science. 

" 3. It may become necessary to obey these laws from 
motives of prudence ; that is, in order to avoid scandal and 
commotion. 

" 4. Laws are unjust from some one of the following 
causes : When they are opposed to the commonweal— when 
their aim is not the good of the commonweal— when the 
legislator outsteps the limits of his faculties— when, although 
in other respects tending to the good of the commonweal, 
* " Protestantism and Catholicism Compared," p. 351. 



^^Q CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

and proceeding from competent authority, they do not ob- 
serve suitable equity ; for instance, when they divide un- 
equally the public imposts." * 

Recognizing the justice of these general principles which 
have been established among civilized nations as common 
laics, the popes of Rome have occasionally exercised the pon- 
tifical authority for the purpose of eradicating paganism, 
establishing Christianity, and of leading mankind from paths 
of error and cruelty into those of truth and mercy. 

From the stand-point of the nineteenth century, many 
able writers have contended that these exercises of pontifical 
power were unjustifiable and unchristian; but a critical 
examination of the circumstances attending every act of 
papal interference in civil and political affairs during the 
early and middle ages, will satisfy every true Christian that 
the cause of God, of civilization, of justice, and of human 
progress, has, in every instance, been enhanced by then]. 
In many respects these rude eras of the earlier centuries may 
be compared with the recent and even present condition of 
certain barbarous peoples, like those of the Sandwich Islands, 
Madagascar, Kew Zealand, and portions of Asia, Africa, and 
America. Whenever the ministers of the Church have inter- 
fered in the civil, political, and domestic policy of these 
savage tribes, with a view of arresting human sacrifices, can- 
nibalism, bloody civil wars, and the like, no Christian has 
ever dreamed of denouncing the acts of these men as unjusti- 
fiable and unchristian. Even when they have been instru- 
mental in deposing their kings and chiefs, and have meted 
out the severest censures of the Church against these viola- 
tors of the laws of God and man, no one has ever accused 
them of pohtical ambition, or of an unjust and unchristian 
usurpation of power. 

In most instances, during the early and middle ages of 
the Church, where the pontifical authority has been invoked, 
or exercised in civil and political affairs, the causes for inter- 
ference have been as just and self-evident as in the examples 
* " Protestantism and Catholicism Compared," p. 851. 



PAPAL mTEEFEKEl!TOE m SECULAR AFFAIES. 22T 

just enumerated. In no instance can it be proven that the 
pontifical authority has ever been exercised from motives of 
personal or political ambition, pecuniary or territorial aggran- 
dizement, or revenge. In all cases the sole objects have 
been the suppression of idolatry and gross wickedness, crime 
and oppression, and the establishment and propagation of 
tlie Christian religion. In illustration of these assertions we 
select the following examples from the writings of Bish- 
op Kenrick,* Brownson, Kaynald, Bossuet, Balmes, and 
others : 

"Wrong, wrong have they been who have complained 
that kings and emperors were subjected to the spiritual head 
of Christendom. It was well for man that there was a power 
over the brutal tyrants called emperors, kings, and barons, 
who rode rough-shod over the humble peasant and artisan — 
well that there was a power, even on earth, that could touch 
their cold and atheistical hearts, and make them tremble as 
the veriest slave. ... It is to the existence and exercise of 
that power that the people owe their existence, and the doc- 
trine of man's equality to man its progress." f 

After the victory of James, king of Aragon, over the 
Moors, Pope Clement IV. " congratulated with him, but at 
the same time he admonished him to subdue his own passions 
by putting away from him Berengaria, the object of unlaw- 
ful attachment. .... For you cannot please our crucified 
Lord, or avenge His wrongs, if you will not abstain from 
offending Him. Moreover, we wish you to understand, that 
unless you obey our admonitions, we shall force you, by 
ecclesiastical censure, to dismiss her." J 

The wicked, licentious, and tyrannical Ladislaus, king of 
Pannonia, after disgracing his kingdom by shameless and 
brutal licentiousness, and oppressing his subjects past en- 
durance for a number of years, was several times admonished 
by Pope Martin lY. ; and finally, when all admonitions had 
failed to correct his guilty abuses, ho was excommunicated. 

* " The Primacy," by Rt. Rev. F. P. Kenrick. 

f " Boston Quarterly Review," Brownson. % Raynald. 



228 CHEISTIANITY AKD ITS CONFLICTS. 

In several instances, where kings have unjustly put away 
their wives, the bishops of Rome have interposed the pon- 
tifical power to punish the offenders, and to vindicate the 
sanctity of the marriage sacrament. In all of these cases, 
the apparent material prosperity of the Church has been 
temporarily impaired; but the principles taught ^by Jesus 
have ever been the sole guide of the guardians of the Church 
from the early centuries, when nearly every pope was mar- 
tyred for their maintenance, to the heretical persecutions 
and schisms of ambitious monarchs of more modem times. 
One of the most notable and pernicious examples on record 
of a kingly violation of the laws of God and man is that of 
Henry VIII. of England. When this monarch found that he 
could not flatter or bribe or threaten Clement YII. into a 
violation of the laws of God and of the Church, by assenting 
to a divorce from his excellent queen, Catharine of Aragon, 
in order that he might marry his concubine, Anne Boleyn, he 
deliberately staked his immortal soul for the carnal prize. 
The issues were Christianity, virtue, and salvation on the 
one hand, and heresy, lust, and eternal perdition on the 
other. 

Before the apostasy of Henry, nearly all the people of 
England were Roman Catholics. The only church, worthy 
of the name, was the Catholic. Here and there a ranting 
Puritan would make his appearance, but they were insignifi- 
cant in talent, influence, and numbers. One of the colossal 
crimes, therefore, of the sixteenth century— a crime against 
both God and man — a crime which impaired the unity of the 
Church, perverted her doctrines, and substituted in their 
place the subtle inventions of man, was due to this licentious 
monarch. 

For these flagrant violations of the laws of God and man, 
Pope Clement, as the representative of Christ on earth, and 
the spiritual head of Christendom, as the guardian of the 
unity of the Church, of true faith, of morals, and of the rights 
of the people, opposed to the sacrilegious monarch the sever- 
est censures and penalties of the Church. 



PAPAL mTEEFEEENCE IN SECULAR AFFAIES. 229 

When Richard Cceur de Lion was arrested and impris- 
oned, on his return from Palestine, by Leopold, duke of 
Austria, in violation of the agreement existing between the 
crusaders and the Christian kings through whose territories 
they might pass, Celestine HL procured his release by the 
threat of excommunication. He also exercised the same in- 
fluence against other rulers who had aided and abetted the 
arrest of Richard and his friends. 

In the quarrels of Henry L of England with his brother 
Robert ; of Andrew, king of Hungary, and Henry H. ; of 
Henry H. of England and Louis VL of France ; of James, 
king of Aragon, and the Count of Montfort ; of Louis YHL 
of France, and Henry H. of England; of Philip, king of 
France, and Alphonsus, king of Castile ; of Edward, king of 
England, and Philip the Fair, king of France; of Charles the 
Bald, and his brother Louis ; of Henry H. and his son ; of 
Louis VL and his rebellious nobles ; of Henry lY., king of 
Germany, and the Saxons; of Philip L and the French bish- 
ops and people ; of Frederick Barbarossa and his subjects ; 
of Frederick H. and his subjects, different popes have exer- 
cised their authority to effect just settlements, to put a stop 
to war and sti-ife, and to restore peace and harmony. These 
interpositions have saved oceans of bloodshed, tens of thou- 
sands of human lives, and diverted the minds of whole na- 
tions from passion, hatred, and revenge, to charity, fraternity, 
and peace. Upon civilization the influence of these inter- 
ventions has been in the highest degree satisfactory, at what- 
ever era of the Church they have occurred. 

Lothaire L procured a fraudulent divorce from his wife 
Theutberge, whom he falsely accused of incest, in order that 
he might marry his mistress Waldrade. But Nicholas I., on 
investigating the case, detected the fraud, and the injury 
v/hich had been done to the lawful queen, annulled the di- 
vorce and thejmlawful marriage, and restored Theutberge to 
her conjugal position and rights. 

Ingelburga, the wife of Philip Augustus, who had been 
divorced on false pretexts, was reinstated in her rights by 



230 CHEISTIANITY AND rrS CONFLICTS. 

the authority of Innocent III. after a forced and cruel sepa- 
ration of sixteen years. 

The Church has always regarded marriage as a divine 
sacrament; since the Holy Scriptures declare that those 
whom God has joined together in matrimony, shall not be 
disjoined again by man. The welfare of society, the cause 
of morality and virtue, the peace and harmony of families, 
the proper education and training of children, and every con- 
sideration of moral and social policy demand that the mar- 
riage relation shall be maintained intact and inviolate as 
established by the positive decree of the Almighty. The 
Roman pontiffs have ever recognized the truth and justice 
of this divine injunction, and have in numerous instances ex- 
ercised their authority over monarchs and subjects to enforce 
obedience to it. 

The examples adduced by Michaud, in which excommu- 
nications were issued against Philip Augustus, Louis VII., 
Philip I., and others, " were all in great measure grounded 
on the violation of the laws of marriage." 

For the most part the secular influence of the bishops of 
Rome has been exercised through moral suasion, and always 
in behalf of religion, virtue, mercy, and human happiness. 

" Catholic sovereigns," says Bishop Kenrick, " as mem- 
bers of the Church, are bound by her laws, and subject to 

the penalties which are attached to their trangression 

The pope, as head on earth of the Church, exercises by divine 
right authority over Catholic princes in the things that are 
of salvation. When by flagrant crimes they cause the name 
of God to be blasphemed, he may admonish and reprove them, 
as Nathan reproved David by the divine command ; and, in 
case of contumacy, he may inflict on them ecclesiastical cen- 
sures." * 

We may go even further and assert that, by the " com- 
mon law " of all civilized nations, by the universally con- 
ceded principles of right and justice, and by the general and 
received customs and practices of the early and middle ages, 
* " The Primacy," p. 327. 



PAPAL INTERFEEEITCE m SECULAK AFFAIRS. 231 

the heads of the Church were right in interposing the pontifi- 
cal authority for the purpose of arresting blasphemy, idolatry, 
human sacrifices, and heinous crimes against divine and hu- 
man laws. It matters not whether this authority has been 
exercised against civilized emperors or kings in the midst of 
cruel and unjustifiable wars against their weak and unoffend- 
ing neighbors, and other great crimes against religion and 
humanity, or against the chiefs and kings of savage tribes of 
cannibals, and wanton man-slayers and slave-dealers — all will 
concede that circumstances have fully justified eyerj such 
act of secular interposition. When Christ overturned the 
tables of the Jewish money-changers who were profaning the 
temple of God by secular occupations, and cast them out of 
the synagogue, He took the law into His own hands, and 
summarily corrected and punished the blasphemy. On the 
same principle, His subsequent representatives have some- 
times adopted a similar policy when the laws and the 
churches of God have been violated and profaned by wicked 
rulers. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

CONDITION OF THE WORLD AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 
REFORMATION. 

DuEiNG the entire Christian era antagonistic forces have 
continually been at work. In most instances these opposing 
elements have been the Christian system on the one hand, 
and material and human systems on the other. All have left 
their imprint, in a greater or less degree, upon nations and 
epochs. But one of them has survived the mutations and the 
practical tests of all the ages. This experimentum crucis in- 
dicates an inherent truthfulness and vitality in the Christian 
system, which pertains to no other. 

At all periods there have been false criteria of true civil- 
ization. Pliny, Seneca, Martial, Tacitus, and Josephus, from 
their points of view, instituted comparisons between the old 
Roman and the early Christian communities, and insisted 
that the superior civilization, culture, and material prosperity 
of the former was a conclusive proof of the superiority of the 
pagan and Jewish religions over the Christian. In the same 
manner, Macaulay, Guizot, D'Aubigne, Lecky, and others, 
from their modern stand-points, have instituted comparisons 
between Protestantism and Catholicism, by adducing wealth 
and worldly prosperity as the proper tests of Christian civil- 
ization. As we advance, it will appear that similar ideas 
and similar antagonistic forces were at the foundation of the 
religious revolution of the sixteenth century, to those which 
existed in the days of Christ and the apostles ; and that the 



CONDITION OF THE WOELD, ETC. 233 

subsequent development of the principles of the Reforma- 
tion has reestablished a condition but little in advance of 
that which existed at the birth of the Saviour. 

After the successive irruptions of the Goths, Vandals, 
and Huns, under Alaric, Genseric, and Attila, and when all 
Europe had been seized and divided among the barbarian 
chiefs, nearly every remnant of the old Roman civilization 
was extinguished in a long and dark night of barbarism. 
The only lights which glimmered upon the great pathway 
of humanity toward eternity, issued from the churches, 
monasteries, and colleges of the Catholic Church. Three 
antagonistic systems now struggled for the mastery — the 
Christian, the remnants of the old Roman, and the Barbarian. 
Each one had its peculiar elements of strength — the Christian 
its divine origin, its divine protection, and its inherent truth- 
fulness ; the Roman, its memories of national glory, grandeur, 
and high material culture ; and the Barbaric, its military 
prestige, and the influence of actual possession. Each sys- 
tem, therefore, presented some points of attraction to the 
rude men of the period ; each one could appeal to some senti- 
ment of the human heart with a prospect of success. The 
Christian civilization addressed itself to man's better nature, 
to his spiritual aspirations, to his humanitarian sentiments, 
to emotions of love, benevolence, charity. The Roman civil- 
ization recalled the popular philosophies of many genera- 
tions, the power and glory of the empire, the luxuries and 
enjoyments of a rich and sensual people, and roused the pride 
of nationality. The Barbarian could point to his numerous 
conquests, to his bravery and prowess, and derive inspiration 
from the wild and romantic legends of his native fastnesses, 
from the rude excitements of an unrestrained soldiery, and 
from pillage and rapine. On through the dark ages, with 
ever-varying results, from generation to generation, sped 
these conflicting agencies of human thought and action — 
Christian, Roman, Barbarian. Slowly, as time wore on, and 
the passions of war and conquest subsided, the beneficent 
truths of Christianity began to make an impression upon the 



234 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

hearts of the Barbarian conquerors ; and as these changes of 
sentiment occurred, a corresponding improvement in morals 
and manners was visible. In this contest of antagonistic 
principles, material w.ealth and power were on the side of the 
rulers, while the only real and true element of civilization 
was with the subjugated Christians. 

As Goth, Vandal, Hun, Frank, Suabian, and Lombard, 
gradually absorbed the truths of Christianity, the dark clouds 
of heathenism very slowly but steadily became dispersed, 
and the clear light of Catholic truth illuminated their souls. 
The invaders had gained a permanent victory over the per- 
sons and the possessions of the subjects of the empire; but in 
turn, the victors themselves were subjugated with spiritual, 
weapons by their Christian vassals. In this gigantic contest 
of the Christian Church with barbarism on the one hand, and 
cultivated paganism, Judaism, and materialism on the other, 
the results, under the circumstances, were most extraordinary. 
In the midst of a world of materialists, oj^posed by the preju- 
dices, education, habits, passions, and propensities of the 
rude men of the period, it is remarkable that Christianity 
survived, and still more remarkable that she brought per- 
manently within her fold entire heathen nations, who after- 
ward became the dominant races of Christian Europe. Let 
those who are inclined to speak disparagingly of the mediaBval 
Christians, remember these great facts, and learn to appre- 
ciate the difficulties and the trials of these pioneer bishops, 
abbots, priests, and monks. And if, among the myriads of 
these new converts from barbarism, he occasionally finds a 
bad Catholic, even in a clerical garb, let him not denounce 
Christ's truth, or Christ's Church, and clamor for a reforma- 
tion, a new religion, and a new Church outside of the one 
which was founded by the Son of man on St, Peter. 

When contrasting the rap>id progress of Christianity and 
the rapid advancement in civilization since the discovery of 
printing in 1452, and the revival of literature and commerce 
in the sixteenth centniy, with their more slow and unequal 
progress in the middle ages, let all the facts and circum- 



ETC. 235 

stances of each period be taken into account. In the first 
instance we behold a continent of educated and enlightened 
Christians in possession of innumerable printed booJcs, and 
every possible facility for acquiring instruction and knowl- 
edge; the discovery and opening up to the commerce of 
Europe new and vast continents, with the attendant im- 
pulses to navigation, trade, and international communication. 
In the latter example we behold many nations composed of 
cultivated pagans, depraved Jews, rude barbarians, and a 
minority of Christians; no printed books ; all learning and 
knowledge confined to the clergy ; and continual elements of 
antagonism brought to bear against the Church. Under 
such circumstances it is not reasonable to suppose that Chris- 
tianity could have made more rapid progress than she did 
make. It is not just to contrast the civilization of these 
epochs with that of the last three centuries, to the discredit 
of the Koman Church, or her bishops and priests. During 
these barbaric periods the Christian Church was the oMy 
element of civilization, the only influence which could rescue 
mankind from false philosophies, false religions, false political, 
moral, and social systems, and permanent human degradation *, 
and as she struggled on amidst a thousand conflicting and 
potent obstacles, she brought with her the Holy Scriptures, 
the sacred traditions, her ecclesiastical organization, and all 
her ordinances and observances as they had been received 
from Christ and the apostles. She also brought with her a 
steadily accumulating host of Christian converts, until, at the 
commencement of the sixteenth century, many years before 
the innovations of Luther, scarcely an individual in Europe 
remained unconverted. 

Even as early as the fifteenth century, nearly one hundred 
years before the commencement of the Reformation, almost 
all of the obstacles to the progress of Christianity and civili- 
zation had been removed, and new and most potent agencies 
of advancement had been presented to the world. Pagau 
and barbarian Europe had become Christian ; the invention of 
printing had placed a new element of civilization in the hands 



236 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTB. 

of men, and had created a new era in human progress. All 
knowledge could now be concisely presented to the public eye, 
and thoughts, principles, discoveries, and actions could be 
examined, and then adopted or rejected as individual judg- 
ments might dictate. This wonderful art of the ingenious 
Guttenberg, opened a wide door for both good and evil. It 
could sow good seed, which might yield harvests, rich in 
divine truths, in morals, and in useful knowledge of all kinds ; 
or it could plant tares, which might choke and retard the 
progress of religion, truth, virtue, and human happiness. As a 
consequence of this invention, there was a general revival of 
literature, commerce, art, science, and agriculture, and all 
advanced with a rapidity quite unparalleled in the previous 
history of the world. A new impulse was communicated to 
the human mind, the ideas and acts of men became more sys- 
tematized, and more blended for mutual assistance and con- 
cert of action, and a new and greater power for good and for 
evn existed in the world. This gigantic power — this vast 
element of civilization — was conceived, perfected, and pre- 
sented to mankind by a Roman Catholic. By the enterprise 
of Roman Catholic monarchs and navigators, the new conti- 
nent of America and the Indies were discovered, and brought 
under the sv/ay of civilized Europe. These great discoveries 
inaugurated the most important commercial era which the 
world had ever witnessed. The thirst for new discoveries, 
conquests, adventures, and new channels of trade and wealth 
now became a furore Avith kings, nobles, and subjects. Spain, 
Portugal, Holland, France, England, and other countries 
vied with each other in their efforts to fit out new expeditions 
to explore other unknown regions, and to open up and de- 
velop all possible sources of commerce and riches. Be it ever 
remembered that these vast discoveries, and these new ele- 
ments of civilization and material and national prosperity, 
were all made by Catholics ; and be it remembered that 
wherever a Catholic fleet penetrated, the priests and mission- 
aries of the Church were always present to teach and preach 
the Word of God to the heathen, and to win them by love 



eONDITTON OF THE WOKLD, ETC. 237 

and charity within the Christian fold. As we proceed, we 
shall enter into details upon this subject, and endeavor to 
prove that Christianity and civilization made quite as rapid 
progress from the discovery of printing to the commencement 
of the so-called Reformation, as they have done at any corre- 
sponding period since. We shall also show that the civiliza- 
tion of Catholicism has always been more in accordance with 
the teachings of Jesus Christ, more humane, more exalted, 
and better calculated to enhance the welfare of the human 
race than that of Protestantism. 

^NTearly every eminent Protestant writer has gracefully 
acknowledged the fact that the preservation of Christianity 
up to the sixteenth century was due solely to tlie Bom an 
Catholic Church. In illustration, we cite a few extracts from 
two of the best writers of England and France — Macaulay and 
Guizot. 

Referring to the influence of the Roman Church during 
the middle ages, Macaulay remarks : " The ascendency of 
the sacerdotal order was long the ascendency which naturally 
and properly belongs to intellectual superiority. The priests, 
with all their faults, were by far the wisest portion of socie- 
ty. It was, therefore, on the whole, good that they should 
be respected and obeyed. The encroachments of the ecclesi- 
astical power on the province of the civil power produced 
much more happiness than misery, while the ecclesiastical 
power was in the hands of the only class that had studied 
history, philosophy, and public law, and while the civil 
power was in the hands of savage chiefs who could not read 
their own grants and edicts." * 

"The Church has constantly maintained the principle that 
all men, whatever their origin, are equally privileged to enter 
her ranks, to fill her highest offices, to enjoy her proudest 
dignities. The ecclesiastical career, particularly from the 
fifth to the twelfth century, was open to all. The Church 
was recruited from all ranks of society, from the lower as 
well as the higher, indeed most frequently from the lower. 
* " History of England," toI. i., p. 134. 



238 CHEISTIANITY AJ<fD ITS CONFLICTS. 

When all around her fell under the tyranny of privilege, she 
alone maintained the principles of equality, of competition, 

and emulation The Church has exercised a vast and 

important influence upon the moral and intellectual order of 
Europe; upon the notions, sentiments, and manners of 

society So powerful, indeed, has been the authority 

of the Church in matters of intellect, that even the mathe- 
matical and physical sciences have been obliged to submit to 

its doctrines We shall find the same fact held, if we 

travel through the regions of literature ; the habits, the sen- 
timents, the language of theology, there show themselves at 
every step. This influence, taken all together, has been salu- 
tary." * .... "It was at the very time that the Roman em- 
pire fell to pieces and disappeared, that the Christian Church 
rallied, and definitely formed herself. Political unity per- 
ished, religious duty arose This is a glorious and 

powerful fact, and one which, from the fifth to the thirteenth 
century, has rendered immense services to humanity. The 
mere fact of the unity of the Church, maintained some tie 
between countries and nations that every thing else tended to 
separate ; under its influence some general notions, some sen- 
timents of a vast sympathy continued to be developed ; and 
from the very heart of the most frightful political confusion 
that the world has ever known, arose perhaps the most 
extensive and the purest idea that has ever rallied mankind, 
the idea of spiritual society ; for that is the philosophical 
name of the Church, the type which she wished to realize." f 
In order to judge fairly of the influence of the Reforma- 
tion upon the civilization of Europe, it is necessary to keep 
constantly in mind the great events of the sixteenth century, 
preceding the Reformation. Previous to the discovery of 
printing, knowledge, for the most part, had been communi- 
cated only from individual to individual. Written manu- 
scripts were rare and expensive, and consequently confined 
almost exclusively to the learned and rich. It is true that 
the divine principles of Christianity were all within the 
* " History of Civilization," yoI. i., pp. 105, 113, 137. f Ibid., vol. ii., p. 289. 



CONDITION OF THE WOELD, ETC. 239. 

Church, and that they were uttered from the mouths of the 
clergy in all parts of the world ; but this mode of addressing 
mankind was slow and imperfect. The art of printing aroused 
the w^orld, from a condition of intellectual torpor and igno- 
rance, to one of great mental activity and intellectual de- 
velopment. All ideas, all discoveries, all knowledge could 
be placed upon printed tablets, and presented daily and 
hourly to the whole civilized world. The thoughts of the 
wise, the good, and the great could be seen continually on 
printed sheets. The minds of men could be brought into 
immediate and direct contact, opinions and suggestions could 
be exchanged, new discoveries communicated, and knowledge 
be imbibed with marvellous rapidity through the new in- 
vention. 

Students of history will not fail to observe that the bish- 
ops of Kome have ever been most active in developing the 
resources of this marvellous discovery, as well as earnest 
patrons of learning, and active disseminators of the Holy 
Scriptures among the nations of the earth. Notwithstanding 
the wars which distracted Italy in the early part of the six- 
teenth century, the popes and the Church were continually 
engaged in disseminating knowledge of all kinds through 
the press. It will greatly astonish those who have been 
made to believe the iiction that the Roman bishops have 
always endeavored to suppress and to exclude the Bible from 
the public gaze, to be made acquainted with the actual facts 
upon this subject. These credulous followers of individual 
sectaries will be indignant, as well as amazed, when they 
learn that the only Bible-publishers, Bible-preservers, Bible- 
missionaries, and Bible-distributors of the world, up to the 
period of the Reformation, were the popes of Rome and the 
Catholic clergy I Even after the Bible had been corrupted 
by the German innovators, and all kinds of false doctrines 
were being disseminated among the ignorant and credulous, 
the Church still continued to circulate the Holy Scriptures 
in all parts of the earth as they were delivered to the apos- 
tles and to the Church by Jesus Christ. It is quite true that 



210 CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

the false translations of tlie Bible by Lutber and other parti- 
san sectaries, arrested the attention of the bishojDs of Rome, 
and required them to shield the unlettered and unwary from 
the cunning devices of these ambitions religionists, by pre- 
senting to the world legitimate Bibles, and authorized inter- 
pretations of them. It is quite true that the art of printing had 
placed in the hands of bad men a potent instrument of evil, 
through which they might readily pervert the religious faith 
of thousands, and blow them about by every wind of false 
doctrine ; but it is no less true that the popes were equally 
active in using this powerful agency for good. It was due 
to these " ambassadors " of God that the Bible was preserved 
and transmitted to the Reformers themselves ; and it is equally 
due to them that the same Bible was still held in the Church, 
immutable and uncorrupted, notwithstanding the fierce on- 
slaughts of the promoters of the Reformation. Says Bishop 
Kenrick : " The books printed in Italy during these ten years 
(from 1470 to 1480) amount, according to Panzer, to twelve 
hundred and ninety-seven, of which two hundred and thirty- 
four are editions of ancient classical authors. Books without 
date are of course not included, and the list must not be re- 
garded complete as to others A translation of the Bible 

by Malerbi, a Venetian, was published in 1471, and two 
other editions of that, or a different version, the same year. 
Eleven editions are enumerated by Panzer in the fifteenth 

century The books printed at Rome down to 1500 are 

nine hundred and thirty-five — a far greater number than 
issued from any other city but Venice, which counted two 

thousand eight hundred and thirty-five Much- more 

than ten thousand editions of books or pamphlets (a late 
writer says fifteen thousand) were printed from 1470 to 1500. 
More than half the number appeared in Italy. The editions 
of the Vulgate registered in Panzer are ninety-one." ^ In 
1513 the Psalms and a grammar were published at Rome by 
Potka in the Ethiopic language. In 1540 the I^ew Testa- 

* Kenrick's " Primacy," p. 482, and Hallam's " Literature of Europe, 
vol. i., c. 14, n, 33, 53, 44, 141. 



CONDITION OF THE WOELD, ETC. 24:1 

ment was published at Kome in the same language. During 
the pontificates of Sixtus Y. and Clement VIII., beautiful 
editions of the Vulgate and of the Septuagint were published 
at Rome, in the Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Arabic lan- 
guages. John Baptist Raimondi published the entire Bible 
in ten different languages, under the direction and patronage 
of the pope, in the sixteenth century, before the Reformation. 
Twenty printed editions of the Bible were brought out in 
the German language alone before Luther's appearance ; and 
among the eminent Catholic commentators on the Bible at 
this period were Tostatus, ISTicholas of Lyra, John Tauler, 
and Thomas a Kempis. More than fifty completely endowed 
universities were established in all parts of Europe, under 
the direction and patronage of the Roman pontiffs, during 
the century preceding the Reformation. * But few men 
have been more active as Bible-publishers and Bible-distrib- 
utors than Popes Pius IV., Gregory XIIL, Sixtus V., Julius 
II., and Clement VIIL Kor were the efforts of these chief 
representatives of the Church confined to the publication 
and dissemination of the Holy Scriptures, and to books per- 
taining to religious subjects, but a fair proportion of the ele- 
gant and classical literature of the past, as well as of the 
present, was rapidly transferred from written manuscripts to 
printed sheets, and presented to the world in the form of 
books or pamphlets. 

The period which elapsed from the discovery of printing 
to the appearance of Luther as a reformer was about sixty 
years. During this interval, as we have seen, the Bible was 
translated into many languages, and great numbers were 
published and circulated among the nations of the earth 
under the patronage and direction of the Catholic Church. 
The art of printing, like any other newly-discovered art, re- 
quired time for development. Its utility could not be prac- 
tically manifested in a day, or even in a single generation. 
Much practice, much experience, and much labor were neces- 
sary to change all of the previous modes of expression, and 
* Alzog, " Histoire de I'Eglise," p. 251. 



242 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

to substitute universally a novel and untried system of com- 
municating and of receiving ideas. Whatever may be as- 
serted of the uses to wliich this noble art has been subjected 
np to the present time, it will not be denied that a Catholic 
invented it, that Catholics developed and perfected it, and 
that Catholics presented it to the Reformers as a new, potent, 
and ready instrument, for good or for evil, as the minds of 
men might determine. We have briefly alluded to a few of 
the immediate Catholic fruits of this discovery in the form 
of numerous copies of the Holy Scriptures in many languages, 
and of large numbers of books on philosophy, poetry, art, 
science, and classical literature. 

But still another grand result, which may be fairly traced : 
to this rapid interchange of ideas to v/hich we have before : 
alluded, was the Catholic discovery of America and the 
Indies. The impulse which had been communicated to the 
human mind by the new invention awakened all the inven- 
tive faculties of men, and kindled in their hearts new as- 
pirations, a spirit of enterprise and emulation, and a burn- 
ing desire to spread the truths of Christianity and the bless- 
ings of civilization to the remotest parts of the world. 
Actuated by such motives. Catholics soon discovered and 
colonized new and vast continents, and opened up a new era 
of commerce and navigation in all quarters of the earth. 
And, while carrying in one hand commerce, agriculture, and 
the arts of civilization, they always conveyed the divine 
truths and blessings of Christianity in the other. No one 
can estimate the vast importance of these great events of 
Catholic enterprise previous to the Reformation upon the 
future welfare and happiness of the human race ! No one 
can contemplate these important eras in human affairs with- 
out recognizing the everlasting obligations due to the Roman 
Catholics who lived during the last half of the fifteenth 
century. 

It required many generations after the invention of steam 
as a motive power, before its vast resources could be fully 
developed and utilized. It is of comparatively recent date 



ETC. 243 

that the learned Dr. Lardner, in a public lecture in New 
York, pronounced ocean steam-navigation impracticable ; but 
time has since developed the powers of the great discovery, 
until innumerable steamships traverse every sea. During 
the first years of its employment a few small boats were 
placed on a few placid rivers, but rather as scientific curiosi- 
ties than as useful crafts of commerce. As time wore on, 
constant practice and experience gradually brought forth the 
dormant capacities of the novel motive power. Ere long its 
potent breath gave life to the locomotive, as it had already 
done to the steam-engine, and henceforth it was destined to 
be a new and world-wide power both on land and water. 

The facts of history will demonstrate that the discovery 
of the steam-engine was followed by a much more tardy 
development, and by fewer useful results in proportion to its 
importance, during the first half century, than were exhibited 
after the invention of printing. 

Ample facts warrant the assertion that all nev/ and im- 
portant inventions must pass through the processes of con- 
ception, germination, and growth, before arriving at full 
maturity. In judging, therefore, of the progress of litera- 
ture, science, and general advancement after the Reformation, 
let it be ever remembered that the art of printing had 
reached its full development and maturity when Luther and 
his fellow-innovators appeared on the stage of life, and that 
the natural and legitimate fruits of the noble invention were 
everywhere rapidly manifesting themselves. It is manifestly 
unjust to attribute the rapid advancement in knowledge and 
in the arts of civilization which occurred during the sixteenth 
century to the efforts of the Reformers and their partisans, 
instead of ascribing it to the marvellous agency which 
brought the minds of men into^daily and hourly rapport. 

Taking as a standard of comparison the important dis- 
coveries which have been made since the Reformation, like 
the steam-engine, the electric telegraph, vaccination, etc., we 
infer that no class of men, even those of the present day, 
could have taken up the art of printing in 1452, and practi- 



244 CHEISTIAIHTY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

cally developed and utilized its powers with greater rapidity 
and judgment, than did the Roman Catholic Church and her 
children up to the period of the Reformation. 'Nor, judging 
from the history of the past three hundred years, could the 
same number of Puritans have made more rapid strides in 
the discovery of new continents, in navigation, in the arts, 
and in the propagation of the Christian religion, than did 
the Catholics for sixty years preceding the Reformation. 

So far as human enterprise, energy, and natural benevo- 
lence are concerned, all men, whether Catholics or Protest- 
ants, are very much alike. Climate and temperament exer- 
cise certain influences upon these natural traits, and thus, to 
some extent, modify local and even national results. So also 
the religious training of a people may direct their thoughts 
and their actions more to their spiritual well-being than to 
their worldly prosperity, and thus leave them behind in 
mere material advancement and material civilization ; but it 
becometh not man to decide as to which of these two classes 
Christ will look upon with most favor at the great day of 
reckoning. 

No one can examine critically the new elements of civili- 
zation and progress which were presented to the world in 
the fifteenth century, and the actual advancement which was 
everywhere manifest, without admitting that Luther's pre- 
texts for a revolt from the Church were unfounded. The in- 
dividual corruptions against which Luther took exceptions, 
were such as must of necessity oocur in all human organiza- 
tions and communities so long as man retains his sinful 
nature. These corruptions should have been attacked with- 
in the Church, so that its unity might have been preserved, 
and mankind been spared the contentions, the wars, and the 
desolation which followed the religious revolt which rended 
Christendom into innumerable hostile and conflicting sects. 
No more ardent and thorough reformers have lived than 
were the pontiffs and many of the bishops of Luther's day. 
Even when Luther was a quiet monk in the Augustine con- 
vent of Erfurth, Pope Julius TL, and afterward Leo X., 



ETC. 24:5 

were using their utmost efforts to reform individual abuses 
within the Church. At the fifth Lateran Council, a. d. 1512, 
in his bull of indiction, Julius says : " ISTothing for the last 
eleven years, in which we discharged the office of cardinal, 
would have been more to our heart than to see celebrated a 
general council, and the Church of Rome reformed for the 
letter,^'' In opening the same council at its eighth session, 
Leo observed respecting the bull of reformation which he 
was about to issue as follows : " We, successor of his (Julius 
II.) cares as well as his office, have never, from the first hour 
of our pontificate, ceased to make it our business, both to 
continue the council, and to promote peace amongst Chris- 
tian princes ; still more, since it is in our mind to effect a 
universal reformation^ to support by new measures, and 
carry out by means of increased deputations, all that had 
been provided by our predecessor from the first respecting 
offices. For there is no care that we have more at heart 
than to pluck up all thorns and briers from the Lord's vine- 
yard, and take up by the roots and extirpate whatever mili- 
tates against its perfect culture." When Adrian VI. suc- 
ceeded to the pontificate, he wrote as follows : " We there- 
fore bend our neck to this high post, not for the lust of rul- 
ing, not for the purpose of enriching our nearest of kin, but, 
in obedience to the will of God, for the purpose of reforming 
His spouse^ the Catholic Churchy that has been defiled ; of as- 
sisting the oppressed ; of raising and honoring those learned 
and virtuous men who have for so long been neglected and 
ignored ; of carrying out aU other things which it becomes 
a good pontiff and lawful successor of blessed Peter to do." 
Nor were many of the most eminent Catholic bishops of 
Luther's day less active than the popes in their efforts at 
reformation, as the labors of Simon Begnius, bishop of Mod- 
rusch, Antonius Puccius, Stephen, bishop of Torcello, Cardi- 
nal Contarini, Sadolet, bishop of Carpentras, Caraffa, and 
others testify. We might cite volumes of facts to the same 
purport, but our limits will only allow us to present a few 
examples as types of the general sentiment of the Catholic 



246 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Church on the subject of individual corruptions preceding the 
Reformation. Referring to Luther's pretext for revolting from 
the Church and endeavoring to rend Christendom into in- 
numerable conflicting sects, viz., the corruptions within the 
Church — Ffoulkes remarks : " Yet even Luther might have 
taken a much more philosophical view of it all, even then, 
had he been more of a thinker. He might have learned from 
our Lord that Jerusalem had not ceased to be the holy city 
because Scribes and Pharisees had gotten the upper hand 
there. He might have learned from Eusebius that even the 
primitive Church required to be reminded by persecutions of 
its heavenward aim. He might have learned, hj comparing 
the ninth and tenth centuries with the thirteenth, that the 
Church had been buried under, had risen up from, and shaken 
off far greater horrors and enormities than any that he saw 

around him In point of fact, things had seen their 

worst, and were beginning to mend, when Luther appeared 
on the stage; and even among those who opposed him, there 
were many who both acknowledged and mourned over the 
corruptions which they could not eradicate, as sincerely as 

he did In the Church as elsewhere, reformers have their 

persecutions to go through, and all real successes are achieved 

by patience and perseverance, not revolt Had Luther, 

instead of rending Christendom, withdrawn from it; had he 
organized a gigantic emigration, and, grieved and indignant 
at the corruptions which he saw around him, crossed the 
ocean, Bible in hand, vfith twenty thousand followers, men, 
women, and children, a mixed multitude, and settled in 
some distant and unoccupied continent — Australia, for in-, 
stance —his descendants might have lived on in perfect good 
faith there till now, not only without ceasing to be Christians, 
but without deviating in the slightest degree from the most 

rigid orthodoxy It was his revolutionary determination 

that involved Luther and his theory — not necessarily hetero- 
dox in its origin — in a world of errors and contradictions 
respecting sin, free-will, faith, and baptism themselves." * 

* "Christendom's Divisions," pp. 125-1 2'7. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

PKIMITIVE PROTESTANTISM. 

Feom the days of Christ to the present time, the Christian 
Church has every now and then been cursexl by the factions 
protests and innoyations of restless and fanatical men. The 
pretexts, motives, and sentiments of these protesting inno- 
vators have been exceedingly various and contradictory. 
Their numbers have been very great, but their influence, for 
the most part, has been limited and transient. We present 
a few examples as types of several classes, in order that a just 
estimate may be formed of their general character and influ- 
ences. 

Among the earliest protesters of the Christian era was 
the high-priest Caiaphas, who denied that our Saviour was 
vv^hat He professed to. be, and accused Him of blasphemy, 
falsehood, and imposition. This man adjured Jesus " to tell 
him if He were Christ the Son of God." And when Jesus 
had responded to him, " Thou hast said — " " then the high- 
priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy ; 
what further need have we of witnesses ? Behold, now ye 
have heard His blasphemy. Wliat think ye ? They answered 
and said. He is guilty of death. Then did they spit in His 
face, and buffeted Him, and others smote Him with the 
palms of their hands, saying. Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, 
who is he that smote Thee ? " * 

In this instance the pretext was that Christ was endeavor- 

* Matt. xxvi. 63-G8. 



248 



CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 



ing to deceive and to impose upon tlie people : the animus 
which impelled Caiaphas was jealousy lest the new religion 
should interfere with his priestly emoluments and preroga- 
tives : and the result, a gross indignity to the Son of God. 

When Christ restored the dumb man to speech by casting 
out of him a devil, the Pharisees declared that the miracle 
was not accomplished through God, but through the prince 
of devils, thus protesting against the truthfulness and the di- 
vine pretensions of the Redeemer. 

When the Jews brought to Jesus the woman taken in 
adultery, for the purpose of entrapping Him, and He had 
silently reproved them, they asked Him, "Who art Thou? 
And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto 

you from the beginning Then answered the Jews, and 

said unto Him, Say we not well that Thou art a Samaritan, 
and hast a devil?" After explaining to them His divine 
mission, " Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto 
you, before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones 
to cast at Him ; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the 
temple." * 

These Jewish protesters denied the divinity of Christ, and 
stoned Him out of the temple for asserting the fact. 

When Jesus had restored the blind man to sight at the 
pool of Siloam, the dissenting Pharisees declared against the 
miracle, saying : " This man is not of God, because He keep- 
eth not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man who 

is a sinner do such miracles? We know that God spake 

unto Moses ; as for this fellow, we know not from whence He 
is." t 

When the Jews took up stones to throw at Jesus in the 
temple in Solomon's porch. He answered them: "Many 
good works have I showed you from My Father, for which 
of those works do ye stone Me ? The Jews answered Him, say- 
ing. For a good work we stone Thee not ; but for blasphemy, 
and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God." J 

* John viii. 25, 28. f John iv. 29. % John x. 31-33. 



PEIMITIVE PKOTESTANTISM. 249 

When Christ assured the multitude at Capernaum that 
" He was the living bread which came down from heaven," 
and that " whoever ate of this bread, ate His flesh," many of 
His own disciples protested against the declaration, and en- 
deavored to induce Him to alter His words, in accordance 
with their own private and rational ideas. When the Saviour 
reasserted the declaration, in still more explicit language, 
and demanded their absolute faith, they protested against 
the miracle as being contrary to the laws of nature, and 
" went away and walked no more with Him " — repudiating 
both Him and His doctrines. 

Among the primitive apostles and Protestants, must be 
ranked Judas Iscariot, who practically protested against 
Christ and His divine mission, by abandoning His cause, 
and betraying Him to an ignominious death. ^N'aturally, 
this man was deceitful, avaricious, and perverse ; but when 
he became an apostle and professed personal friend of Jesus 
Christ, it is probable that the great truths which he had 
heard from His lips had, for the moment, carried conviction 
to his heart, overwhelmed his instinctive traits, and inclined 
him to a life of godliness. In common with the other apos- 
tles, Judas had listened to the words of life from the God- 
man, had witnessed His astounding miracles, and had beheld 
the dawn of a reign of universal love, hope, charity, and 
peace, in place of the existing idolatry and wickedness which 
then filled the world. In his heart he must have known that 
Jesus was the Son of God, and that His teachings were true 
and holy. For a time this knowledge kept down the old 
Adam within him, restrained his natural instincts, and in- 
clined him to obey the precepts and observances of his holy 
Master. But a temptation was before him which he could 
not resist — the purse with its pieces of silver. As the glit- 
tering coins passed through his itching palms, the demon of 
avarice took possession of him, faith fled from him, and the 
way was cleared for deceit, falsehood, and treason. All 
the wonderful things which he had seen and heard, now be- 
came indistinct, and visions of worldly riches and pleasure 
11* 



250 CHRISTIANITY AUB ITS CONFLICTS, 

dazzled him. Heretofore he had received the scoffs and re- 
buffs of nnhelieyers, suffered from trials and privations, and 
practised in accordance with the divine teachings. But he 
saw within his reach riches, worldly honors and ^clat, and he 
yielded to his natural promptings in betraying the Saviour 
of the world to crucifixion. In the perpetration of this mon- 
strous crime, Judas practically protested against Christ and 
His religion. As Satan, when he protested against the in- 
structions which Adam and Eve had received from God with 
regard to the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, was the 
first Protestant of the old dispensation, so was Judas, when 
he denied and betrayed Christ, among the first Protestants 
of the new dispensation. The prince of darkness commenced 
operations in propria xoersona ; but his followers and imi- 
tators have ever since been prompted and aided by his spirit, 
as the sequel will prove. 

The Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, and his wretched 
subjects, denied that Jesus was the Son of God, protested 
against His teachings, and put Him to an ignominious death. 
Theoretically and practically these men were all Protestants. 

These cavillers against the personal teachings of the 
Saviour were mostly impulsive and superstitious Jews, Gen- 
tiles, Pharisees, and pagans; but the stupendous miracles 
which were continually wrought in their very presence usu- 
ally served to awe them, and to destroy summarily their 
power for evil. After the ascension, the duty of combating 
these heretical dissenters devolved upon the apostles and 
their successors. As might have been expected, their efforts 
were less potent than those of their divine Master, and the 
opponents were more bold, more persevering, and more influ- 
ential than before. But in the end religious truth has al- 
ways triumphed. Among the first Protestants who attempt- 
ed to create dissensions in the Church, after the departure of 
Christ from the earth, were a number of Corinthians who 
protested against certain doctrines which had been delivered 
to the Church by the Saviour. Pope Clement sent three 
legates, Claudius Ephebus, Valerius Bito, and Fortunatus, 



PEnnTIVE PEOTESTANTISM. 251 

to remonstrate with the dissenters, to correct their errors, 
and to arrest their schismatic ojoerations. The mission was 
successful, and the disturbers abandoned their contentions. 

About the middle of the second century, Montanus and 
Maximilla attempted to found a Protestant Church in opj^o- 
sition to the Catholic Church. These men were enthusiastic, 
ascetic, and reckless as to principles or consequences. Their 
Protestantism consisted in denying that the Holy Ghost had 
succeeded in saving mankind through Moses or Christ, " but 
had enlightened and sanctified them to accomplish this great 
work." They repudiated all Church authority, advocated 
private interpretation of Holy Writ, denied the lawfulness 
of second marriages, the power of forgiving heinous sins, like 
adultery, etc., and rejected every thing which did not coin- 
cide with human logic and natural laws. The energy and 
boldness of these innovators gained them many followers ; 
but after several years of violent opposition to the authorized 
Church of God, their factious folly terminated in mental de- 
rangement, and suicide by hanging, as the apostasy of Judas 
had done before them. 

Among the prominent Protestant sects which existed 
previously to the third century, were the Eucratites, or primi- 
tive Puritans ; Phrygians, the primitive Spiritualists, Docetes, 
Cajanists, Yalentinians, Marcionites, Basilidians, Eutychists, 
Ophians, Simonians, Montanists, and several others of lessor 
importance. 

After them came Ebion, who repudiated all the epistles 
of St. Paul ; Manichseus, who asserted that no part of the 
N'ew Testament was written by the apostles, that all Church 
authority was unnecessary, and that each person should be 
governed by his own private judgment in religious matters ; 
Donatus, who believed in "apostolic succession, in the 
necessity of ecclesiastical unity, and in the efficacy of the 
sacramental system," but denied the supremacy of the Roman 
pontiff, and of the Catholic Church, because certain wicked 
bishops and priests had openly practised and sanctioned 
abuses and violations of the divine laws ; Arius, who denied 



262 CHEISTL^NITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

the divinity of our Saviour, and rejected the epistle of Paul 
to the Hebrews ; Marcion and Pelagius, v^ho, while professing 
to he Catholics, protested against several of the dogmas of the 
Church, and denied the authenticity of certain j^ortions of the 
Scriptures which were recognized by the Church ; ISTovatian, 
who denied the Catholic doctrine of sacramental penance. 
The position of the Donatists was similar to that of the 
Anglicans of the present day, while the Manichseans may be 
regarded as the ultra Protestants of this early period. Both 
of these men denounced the Church, and her immutable doc- 
trines, because of the unbecoming acts of certain clerical 
individuals. They discarded the divine truths and the laws 
of the Church, because individuals had violated these truths 
and these laws, and appealed to private judgment in the 
selection of their creed and their rule of action. As might 
have been expected, these primitive Reformers were speedily 
divided into several distinct sects. 

It would require too much space to present any thing like 
a comprehensive history of the numerous Protestant sects 
and innovators of the primitive ages of the Christian era. 
We have only been able in this work to call attention to a 
few of these attempted reformations, but they will serve as 
types of all the others. In all of them, the pretexts, objects, 
and results have been almost identical. All have subjected 
the declarations and precepts of Christ to the test of private 
judgment ; all have been influenced more or less by personal 
ambition, love of notoriety, unwillingness to submit to the 
restraints of religion, and a spirit of faction ; and the results 
in all instances have been dissensions among individuals of 
the same Christian household, more or less disturbance of the 
unity and harmony of the Church, and the development of 
skepticism, immorality, and irreligion. Among them we find 
pioneer representatives of nearly every sect of modern times. 
During the sojourn of Jesus upon the earth, these impious men 
protested that He was not the Son of God ; that He was 
possessed of a devil; that He cast out evil spirits, not 
through any divine power, but through Beelzebub ; tliat His 



PEIMITIVE PROTESTANTISM. 253 

pretended conversion of bread and wine into His body and 
blood was a fiction ; that He was an impostor, a deceiv^er, a 
false teacher, and a false prophet. After the ascension came 
others, who protested against the holy Trinity, the Incarna- 
tion, the sacramental system ; others, who denied that Christ 
ever founded a single visible Church, with an ecclesiastical 
organization; others, who have protested against the idea 
that Christ has fulfilled His promise of remaining with His 
Church forever, and of preserving within it His sacred truths, 
and therefore have thrown to the winds all authorities and 
all traditions, and have relied upon private inspiration in 
forming their religious opinions ; others, who have distorted 
and perverted isolated passages of Holy Writ into articles of 
faith, and thus given rise to numerous doctrines contrary to 
the spirit of Christ's law. 

In alluding to the early oppositions of the Church among 
Christians, Bossuet truly remarks that the truths diffused by 
the Holy Spirit are always clear, simple, pure, and uniform ; 
while the doctrines of dissenters are always inconsistent, 
contradictory, and changeable. Thus, "the first confession 
of faith made by Arius, and presented to his bishop Alex- 
ander, has since undergone a continual series of variations." * 
As St. Hilaire observed to one of the earliest protectors of 
Arius, the Emperor Constance, " Like architects who are dis- 
pleased with their own works, they are continually building 
up and tearing down." 

The history of all dissenters from the time of Christ, 
illustrates this assertion. " Heretics," says TertuUian, " from 
their nature, continually vary in their rules, that is, in their 
confessions of faith. Each one believes that he has a right 
to change and to modify what he has received as his own 
private inspiration dictates, since the author himself has 
acted in accordance with his own personal judgment. Heresy 
always retains its own peculiar nature, in never ceasing to 
make innovations ; and the progress of the thing is similar to 
its origin. What has been permitted to Valentinian is also 
* Hist, des Var., p. 113. 



254 CHEISTIAI^ITT AND ITS COKFLIOTS. 

allowed to Valentinians ; the Marcionites claim the same 
power that Marcion had ; and the authors of any particular 
heresy possess no more right to make innovations than their 
proselytes. All heresies change, and when we examine them 
thoroughly, we find them continually changing from what 
they were in the first instance." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MODERN PROTESTANTISM. 

Like its primitive archetype, modern Protestantism is 
made np of an almost endless variety of opinions, creeds, and 
sects, which have been conceived and developed by indi- 
viduals. Hostility to the ancient Church has always been at 
the foimdation of both ancient and modem Protestantism. 
With no fixed principles, and no definite system of operation, 
its modern disciples have filled the world with divisions, dis- 
sensions, and a general condition of religious chaos. But the 
fundamental doctrines of nearly all of the sects coincide with 
the Puritanical principles inculcated by Calvin and Luther. 
Notvathstanding the numerous attempts which have been 
made to repudiate the tenets of Calvinism and Lutheranism, 
they still adhere in the main to every branch of Protestant- 
ism, l^o sectarian subdivisions, no theological subtleties 
have ever yet been able to remove the dominating influences 
of the original Puritan system as established by its original 
inventors. At the present time we have in this country not 
less than eight different subdivisions of Presbyterianism, viz., 
the Old and New School, Cumberland, Associate, Associate 
Reformed, Reformed, United, Covenanters ; and yet all of 
them retain the most objectionable features of the religion of 
Calvin. The same fact applies to the subdivisions of the other 
sects. As we advance we shall endeavor to show that the 
parent source of this theological system was corrupt and 



256 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

deDioralizing, and that, in its innumerable ramifications, its 
fruits have been antagonistic to the best interests of society. 

The stern facts of history demonstrate conclusively that 
the Puritan system which originated with Luther, Calvin, 
Zwinglius, Bucer, Melanchthon, and the Anabaptists of Mun- 
ster and Leyden, not only retarded the progress of Chris- 
tianity and true civilization, but that it has been the chief 
cause of nearly all of the discords, contentions, civil wars, 
and other national calamities which have occurred durins: 
the past three hundred years. What were the nature, the 
objects, and the tendencies of this system? Its fundamental 
principles were undoubtedly revolutionary, fatalistic, world- 
ly. All the established religious doctrines and Scriptural in- 
terpretations of the wise and pious men of the preceding 
ages were ignored. All the sacred legacies which Christ de- 
posited in His Church, and which had been transmitted from 
generation to generation, were cast aside ; and the hasty and 
fickle inspirations of a few visionary men were accepted as 
Christianity and true religion ! Free-agency was repudiated ; 
good works were counted as nothing in the plan of salvation : 
God was regarded as the author and creator of evil, of sin, 
and of human wretchedness and woe ; while man was looked 
upon as a powerless agent placed upon earth without volition 
or responsibility, and predestined before his creation for a 
certain fixed and immutable destiny. Such, in brief, was the 
essence of the Puritan system. 

Two prime objects were at its foundation, viz., the over- 
throw of the ancient Church and every thing pertaining to 
it, except a corrupted version of its Bible, and the establish- 
ment upon its ruins of a number of new theological hypotheses 
and new^ religions which should afford greater scope for the 
indulgence of human ambition, and the baser emotions of the 
heart. Depraved priests, monks, and nuns, joined the revolu- 
tionists in order to escape the rigid discipline of the Church, 
and to marry, wrangle, revel, and indulge in sensual pleas- 
ures. Rulers and nobles gave in their adhesion, for the pur- 
pose of enriching themselves by robbing the rich churches, 



MODEEN PEOTESTANTISM. 257 

monasteries, and other possessions of the Church. Peasants 
and artisans accepted the novel theology, in order to save 
themselves the trouble of worshipping God, of performing 
their religious and moral duties, and of restraining their evil 
propensities and passions. It was very convenient for them 
to shift all responsibility from themselves to their Creator, by 
simply adopting the doctrine of justification. It was a most 
comfortable idea that they were not free agents, and there- 
fore were not responsible for any sins they might commit, 
because the Almighty had foreordained and irrevocably pre- 
arranged all mundane events. 

In order to accomplish the objects of the Reformation, 
Luther and his companions cunningly and stealthily departed 
from the Church, taking with them but one of the many 
sacred deposits with which her divine Founder had endowed 
her — a copy of the Latin Vulgate which St. Jerome had 
translated from the originals, and which had been recognized 
as authentic by all the ecclesiastical councils, and by the 
Universal Church since the days of the apostles. Armed 
with this integral portion of God's holy truths, these religious 
conspirators commenced operations. How ? By setting up 
a human standard of religious faith and practice, and then 
presenting to the world a new and false rendering of the Bible 
which should coincide with this standard ! In effecting this 
novel translation, no learned council was invoked, and no 
consultations with wise, holy, and learned men were sought ; 
but the simple ipse dixit of a single individual — an indifferent 
scholar, and a religious enthusiast, was deemed sufficient to 
set aside in an instant that version of Holy Word which 
the wisdom and learning of fifteen centuries had established 
as veritable and sacred. Many of the corruptions thus per- 
petrated were denounced even by the very partisans of the 
Reformation themselves, and a bitter quarrel occurred be- 
tween Luther and Zwingiius upon this point. From that 
period to the present time, each sectary has taken the liberty 
of distorting the Scriptures in accordance vfith his own hy- 
pothetical ideas. Ostensibly taking the Bible as their only 



258 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

rule of faith, these men presumed to pervert its sacred truths 
in such a manner as to afford a pretext to their visionary and 
absurd tenets. Thus were the beneficent teachings of Jesus 
Christ made, by forced and false renderings, to sustain the 
dogmas of the revolutionists. 

In the first instance, Luther and his fellow-innovators did 
not presume to attack a single article of Catholic faith, or a 
single principle of the Catholic religion ; but from the moulder- 
ing debris of bygone centuries, and from the frailties and 
weaknesses of individual men and women, the pretexts and 
arguments of the Reformation were gathered. If a bishop or 
priest had violated his religious obligations in ages past and 
gone, each individual act was carefully noted, and hurled 
with hatred and derision against the holy Church of God. 
Charity found no abiding-place within their hearts, but 
hatred, ambition, and a spirit of discord, turbulence, and 
vengeance, dominated over them. Yery soon, however, the 
Puritan system became fully developed, and the real objects 
to which v/e have alluded became manifest, in attempts to 
destroy all the ancient landmarks of Christianity, and to 
build up the vain creeds of men. One of the pretended ob- 
jects of the Reformation was the enfranchisement of the 
minds and consciences of men from the thraldom and the 
rigid discipline and restraints of the ancient Church; and 
yet, in all instances, the innovators denounced and perse- 
cuted, often to the death, those who dared to differ with 
them in articles of faith. Both in Germany and in Switzer- 
land, the doctrines of Luther and Calvin were enforced upon 
the ignorant multitude at the point of the bayonet. Faith in 
God and in Holy Writ, was not sufiicient ; but faith in Luther 
and Lutheranism, or in Calvin and Calvinism, was essential 
to salvation. Moral suasion had no share in the practical 
development of the Puritan system, as the plundered and 
burning churches, colleges, monasteries, and libraries of the 
Catholics of Luther's day amply testify. 

In forming an opinion respecting the influence of the Ref- 
ormation upon the morals and manners of Europe, it should 



MODEEN PEOTESTAI^TTISM. 259 

not be forgotten that the Reformers arrogated to themselves 
the functions of censors and interpreters of Holy Writ, and 
of the nn written traditions, and set themselves np as teach- 
ers and leaders of the Christian world. Scornfully throwing 
aside the accumulated knowledge of the past, these men re- 
jected, altered, and perverted the sacred deposits of Chris- 
tianity in every conceivable manner. Their denunciations 
were for the most part against the immoralities of individ- 
uals; but their actual attacks were directed against the 
fundamental principles of the Christian religion. In their 
madness, hatred, and insubordination they became blind op- 
ponents of every thing pertaining to Catholicity. They de- 
nounced the only visible and universal Church which had 
existed on earth since the Christian era, as heteredox, cor- 
rupt, and false, and its priesthood as a wicked and antichris- 
tian organization. All their writings and utterances im- 
plied that Christ had failed in His promise of leading His 
Church into all truth, of rendering it visible and operative, 
and of preserving it in its integrity to the end of the world. 
Professing to be holier and wiser than other men, they boast- 
ingly anounced themselves as divinely-chosen regenerators 
and apostles of primitive Christianity — of the religion of the 
Prince of Peace and His humble fishermen and followers. 
With bitter and boisterous invectives against an institution 
which had preserved and perpetuated Christianity through 
so many dark and turbulent centuries, and against the 
myriads of holy men, who, with their lives in their hands, 
had carried and preached the gospel among all nations, they 
claimed that Christ had permitted the Church which He had 
founded expressly to teach and to perpetuate the new dis- 
pensation, to blunder on in error, immorality, and falsehood 
for fifteen centuries — ^useless and inoperative, except for evil ! 
Impiously asserting that this organization had failed in its 
mission, the Reformers proclaimed themselves the only true 
representatives of Christianity on earth, and eagerly set 
themselves to work in the manufacture of man-creeds, man- 
sects, and man- worship, in the forms of Lutheranism, Calvin- 



260 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

ism, and the like. They declared that all wickedness, crime, 
and false doctrine were to be swept away by the new reli- 
gion, and that a reign of holiness, charity, purity, fraternity, 
and happiness was to dawn upon the world. The Catholic 
Antichrist was to be put down, and Lutheran or Calvinistic 
Puritanism was to be substituted in its stead as the Christian 
religion ! Morality, virtue, peace, and concord were to take 
the places of immorality, vice, discord, and wretchedness. 
The minds and consciences of men were to be enfranchised 
and developed into models of intelligence and excellence. 
Each individual, however ignorant and obtuse he might be, 
was to be his own private theologian and interpreter of the 
mysteries of Holy Writ, and to act accordingly. Unity of 
faith, unity of Church, and unity of worship were regarded as 
popish delusions, and unworthy of recognition under the new 
theological system. Such were a few of the professions and 
pretensions of the Reformers. Let the sequel show how these 
promises were fulfilled. 

In allusion to this subject Ffoulkes makes the follow- 
ing judicious observations: "Protestantism was victorious 
enough as long as it had but the old system to attack ; but 
as soon as ever subjective holiness came in force to the 
rescue, it was beaten back into corners, with all its naked- 
ness exposed to view. What man had it to compare for a 
moment with the saints of the Church, as followers of Christ, 
as patterns of that angelic life upon earth of which Chris- 
tians are capable ? Because Luther wished to see monastic 
vows abolished, was he absolved from his own ? Melancthon 
was pure and amiable, but he was infinitely more admired 
than followed. Calvin attempted to bind his disciples to a 
system of austere discipline, but it was more than once re- 
belled against during his lifetime, and may be said to have 
died out with him. Zwingliiis, who preceded, and Beza, who^ 
succeeded him, had been notorious profligates. Osiander was 
another whose character did not stand high even among his 
friends. Cranmer, his nephew, by unlawful means accepted 
the archiepiscopal pall with a lie in his mouth. Laurent 



MODEEK PROTESTANTISM. 261 

Peterson, archbishop of XJpsalj bemoaned the licentiousness 
of his own party, which he could not check. N'either Bullin- 
ger nor Bucer, QEcolampadius, nor Peter Martyr, led lives 
of more than average respectability. I am not now speaking 
of them as writers, but as teachers and preachers of the gos- 
pel, which they assumed to be. Yet it is notorious that men 
did not become better Christians, or even more moral, than 
they had been previously, nor creeds more simple and intelli- 
gible than heretofore, under their auspices. There was no 
burning enthusiasm on their parts to carry the gospel to the 
heathen, where Christ had never been preached at all. The 
greater part of their time was spent in the investigation of 
negations or contradictions, and their whole force was para- 
lyzed by seeking to impose new professions of faith upon each 
other. Isolated, or divided among themselves, their learn- 
ing, great as it was, offered no effectual resistance to the 
compact mass of learning, zeal, and piety combined, by which 
it was assailed. Practice, as usual, was the criterion by 
which the multitude judged ; and hence no wonder that it 
should have come to pass, as Lord Macaulay, with the pages 
of Ranke open before him, has observed pointedly, that, 
' though at first the chances seemed to be decidedly in favor 
of Protestantism, the victory remained with the Church of 
Rome.' On every point she was successful. If we overleap 
another half century, we find her victorious and dominant in 
France, Belgium, Bavaria, Bohemia, Austria, Poland, and 
Hungary. Protestantism had at first driven back Catholi- 
cism to the Alps and the Pyrenees ; Catholicism had rallied, 
and had driven back Protestantism even to the German 
Ocean. Nor has Protestantism, in the course of two hun- 
dred years, been able to reconquer any portion of what was 
then lost." * 

In the first instance, the innovators saw no errors what- 
ever in the authorized doctrines of the Churchy but they sim- 
ply protested against certain irregular acts of individual 

* Ffoulkes, " Christendom's Divisions, and Essay on Ranke," pp. 122, 
132. 



262 CHEISTIAjSTTY AKD its COIO'LICTS. 

Catholics. In these protests against the abuses of individual 
bishops and priests they were justified, and would have been 
sustained by almost the entire Christian world, so long as 
the opposition was continued icithin the Church. Thousands, 
in bygone ages, had made similar protests against similar 
abuses, and had succeeded in eradicatmg the evils com- 
plained of, without endangering the unity of the Church, or 
creating new and false religions. Notable examples may be 
found in the lives of St. Bernard, Jerome, and other ancient 
flithers. 

Finding that his first protest against the sale of indulgen- 
ces by a rival Dominican monk, Tetzel, met the approval of 
a considerable number of materiaKstic Germans of Witten- 
berg,' and that he was gaining some notoriety, Luther cau- 
tiously insinuated some doubts respecting the obligation of 
obedience to the Church and her chief bishop. He followed 
in the footsteps of Montanus, Donatus, Manich^eus, and ISTo- 
vatian, of the second and third centuries— advancing the 
same objections, and proposing, like them, to substitute his 
own private opinions in place of the established doctrines of 
the Church. His sensual and naturally skeptical country- 
men were still with hun, still applauded and flattered him. 
Ere long he began to denounce openly, in pulpit and in 
print, several of the dogmas of the Church, and the suprem- 
acy of the sovereign pontiff. Error succeeded error, au- 
dacity followed audacity, until he had repudiated nearly 
every vital doctrine of Christianity, and established a creed 
of his own invention, at variance with Scripture, and even 
common-sense. As Luther advanced in his innovations, his 
mind became morbidly excited, and his conscience was con- 
tinually burdened ^vith apprehensions and terrors at the con- 
templation of the terrible responsibility he had assumed. 
This is evident from his apologetic letters to the pope and 
his representatives, acknowledging the duty of obedience to 
the Church and to the pope, and offering entire submission 
on certain trifling conditions. But the excitement and dread 
under which he constantly suffered was too much for the 



MODEEN PS0TE3TANTISM. 263 

sanguine temperament of the unfortunate gentleman, and lie 
unquestionably became a victim to religious monomania. 
In another place we shall demonstrate this fact. 

As we have already seen, the first pretexts employed by 
Luther for his religious revolution were the sale of indulgen- 
ces for the benefit of the Church by the monk Tetzel, and 
the conceded fact that there had been, and then were, 
wicked priests in the Church. These personal abuses Avere 
in no way connected with the authorized doctrines of the 
Catholic Church, but were in direct opposition to all the 
teachings, precepts, and to the entire spirit of Catholicity. 
E"ot a single word can be found in the legitimate doctrines 
of the Church, or in the canons and decrees of' her ecclesias- 
tical councils, which authorizes, or in the slightest degree 
sanctions, the abuses of which Luther first complained. No 
candid man will claim that these specious pretexts warranted 
a religious revolution outside of the Church, and the estab- 
lishment of new and strange creeds and sects by disaffected 
men. No one will claim that such a revolution was likely to 
subserve the cause of truth, Christian unity, and true religion. 

At a later period, when a morbid ambition to become 
the founder and leader of a sect took possession of the Au- 
gustine innovator, he asserted that the Church had enslaved 
the human mind and conscience, had imposed upon man- 
kind a system of priestcraft and superstition, and that it 
was the duty of every man to abandon it, to make the Bible 
his only rule of faith, to become his own theologian and in- 
terpreter, and then — ^mark the sequel — he a Lutheran I We 
have already shown the fallacy of this later pretext, in 
demonstrating that the doctrines of the Catholic Church are 
not the works of men^ but of Jesus Christy who gave them to 
the Church, and promised to guard and preserve them there 
in their purity and integrity forever. The justness of this 
pretext of Luther cannot be admitted without conceding 
that the positive promise of our Saviour has been unfulfilled, 
that He would remain with His Church forever, and that its 
holy doctrines should be preserved in their original purity. 



264: CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Certain truths, like the laws of gravitation, crystalliza- 
tion, and chemical combination, are self-evident, fundamen- 
tal, immutable, and men accept them as permanent, unques- 
tionable, and unalterable facts. They do not regard this fixed 
and immutable belief as an enslavement of the human mind, 
nor do they dream of submitting these abstruse questions to 
private examinations by an ignorant multitude for explana- 
tions respecting the nature and rationale of these laws of na- 
ture. How much less should the great truths of Christianity 
which the Son of God revealed to man, be dragged from their 
holy sanctuary by impious hands, and subjected to indiscrim- 
inate analysis, criticism, and perversion ! 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 

DOCTRINES OF THE INNOYATOES OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTUEY. 

As soon as Lutlier and his innovating contemporaries liad 
repudiated tlie ancient religion, they found themselves cen- 
tres of applauding factions of materialists and skeptics, 
leaders of new religious parties, and expected authors of new 
and reformed articles of faith, and of new creeds. They had 
no choice ; substitutes were demanded in place of the old 
system — platforms upon which the turbulent and factious 
men of the period could stand with some little pretence to 
Christianity, In this emergency each innovator brought 
into requisition his inventive faculties, produced a novel 
creed, and then constituted himself the prophet, the Christ, 
the principal object of his religion. The watchwords were 
iMtheranism, Calmnism^ Ancibaptism^ Socinianism, aud the 
like, not Christianity. Such portions of the sacred writings 
as opposed their newly-conceived hypotheses were either 
deliberately perverted or summarily rejected. 

As might have been expected from such a policy, its 
legitimate results were speedily manifested in the introduc- 
tion of an almost endless variety of theological hypotheses 
and creeds, and a very general prevalence of rationalism and 
atheism. 

'' The principle of rationalism," says Moeliler,- " is inhe- 
rent in the very nature of Protestantism; it manifested 
itself in the very origin of the Reformation, and has since, to 
12 



^QQ CHEISTIAKITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

a greater or less extent, and in every conceivable form, re- 
vealed its existence in almost every Protestant community. 
. . . For if the interpretation of the Bible belong to private 
judgment, the previous questions as to its authenticity, in- 
tegrity, and inspiration, without the settlement whereof the 
right of interpretation becomes nugatory, must be submitted 
to the decision of individual reason. Thus has the most 
insidious and dangerous form of infidelity grown naturally, 
immediately/, and irresistibly out of the very root of Protes- 
tantism." * 

The religious revolutionists of the sixteenth century pro- 
fessed to be Eeformers— to banish error, and to substitute 
in its place trutJi — ^to restore to the world a lost Church, lost 
doctrines, and lost ordinances, as they were first given to 
the apostles. We propose to describe briefly these newly- 
discovered doctrines, so that the reader can judge whether 
they are of divine or of human origin. 

1. Original Sin. 

Luther, Calvin, and their disciples, maintained that 
through Adam's fall his entire physical and spiritual being 
became perverted and corrupted in such a manner, that his 
whole nature, disposition, propensities, desires, and tlioughts, 
were absolutely and totally evil ; that this sinful nature so 
thoroughly and completely pervaded his entire organization, 
that his capacity for receiving good impressions and influ- 
ences was utterly extinguished, and that the stains of sin were 
so thoroughly fixed within him, and necessarily adhered to him 
in such a manner, that no sorrow or repentance could eradicate, 
them ; that this corrupt nature is entailed upon all his pos- 
terity, so that no course of action on the part of any indi- 
vidual can exercise the slightest influence in rescuing him 
from eternal perdition ; that all free-will, all spiritual powers, 
and all capacity for good, either in thought or deed, are 
utterly destroyed. " Man," says Luther, « as he is born of 

* " Symbolism," pp. 25, 29. 



DOCTEINES OF THE INNOVATOES, ETC. 267 

his father and mother, together with his whole nature and 
essence, is not only a sinner, but sin itself." Calvin thought 
" that the image of God was utterly effaced from the soul of 
man by the fall, and that man has been so banished from the 
kinordom of God, that all in him which bears reference to the 
blessed life of the Lord, is extinct." * Melancthon and Zwing- 
lius maintained that God deliberately and intentionally im- 
planted original sin in Adam, and that He is not only the au- 
thor of original sin, but of all the sins resulting from this super- 
induced sinful propensity. In 1525, Melancthon, in his com- 
mentary on the Epistle to the Romans, writes : " That God 
wrought all things, evil as well as good; that He was the au- 
thor of David's adultery, and the treason of Judas, as well as 
of Paul's conversion .... and that it is not in the power of 
man to abstain from wickedness." In 1530, Zwinglius, in his 
work on Providence, asserts, " that God is the author, mover, 
and impeller to sin ; that He also makes the sinner ; that by 
the instrumentality of the creature He produces injustice and 
the like." \ Calvin repeatedly says, " that man, at the insti- 
gation of God, doeth what it is unlawful to do ; by a myste- 
rious divine inspiration, the heart of man turneth to evil ; 
man falleth because the providence of God so ordaineth." % 
After Calvin's death, his successor, and the leader of the 
sect, Theodore Beza, taught " that God not only incites, im- 
pels, and urges to evil ; but that the Almighty creates a por- 
tion of men as His instruments, with the intent of working 
evil through them." § From this Puritan idea of original 
sin originated the dogma of total depravity. 

It is a source of relief to revert to the doctrine of the 
Catholic Church upon original sin, after a perusal of the 
impious sentiments we have just described. While the 
Catholic Church does not profess to comprehend the rationale 
of God's designs and works on earth, or to penetrate and 
explain all the mysteries connected with the creation of 
man, and his intimate relations with the Creator and the 

* Calvin's Inst., lib. ii., p. 355. f Zwing. de Prov., c. vi., opp. torn, i., f. 365. 
X Calv. Inst., lib. iv., c. 18. § Beza, Aphorism xxii. 



268 CIIEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

creation, it yet presents us with a Scriptural and a reason- 
able idea of original sin. She maintains that God is a Being 
of infinite love ; and in placing Adam and Eve in the garden 
of Eden, He endowed them with every capacity for perfect, 
happiness. He gave them a knowledge of good and evil, of 
right and wrong, and perfect freedom and power to act as 
they chose, to obey or disobey the instructions He had given 
them. That there might be no misapprehension, He an- 
nounced to them His wishes and prohibition respecting the 
forbidden fruit, and assured them of the penalty which would 
result from a violation of His commandment. Adam there- 
fore perfectly understood his duty, possessed the free-will 
and the power to do it, and was aware of the guilt and the 
penalty of disobedience. On the one hand, he saw his Cre- 
ator who had endowed him with every earthly blessing, but 
had subjected him to a slight discipline in prohibiting the 
forbidden fruit ; on the other hand, he saw Satan, listened to 
his sophistries, imbibed a spirit of rebellion, and deliberately 
violated the command of God. In this entire transaction 
Adam was a perfectly free agent, and acted with a complete 
knowledge of his obligations and duties, and of the dangers 
of a violation of them. Like so many of his posterity, the 
Adams who have lived since his day, he saw the straight 
and narrow road which leads to eternal life, and the broad 
road which leads to destruction, but he wilfully pursued the 
latter. 

At the fifth session of the Tridentine Council, the follow- 
ing decree concerning original sin was passed : " Adam, by 
sin, lost his original justice and holiness, drew down on himself, 
by his disobedience, the displeasure and the judgments of 
the Almighty, incurred the penalty of death, and thus, in all 
his parts, in his body as well as soul, became strangely 
deteriorated." All his posterity inherit this sinful condi- 
tion, and he can only be justified before God, through the 
merits of Jesus Christ, the sole mediator between God and 
man ; but as man is a free agent, and possesses all the requi- 
site knowledge and power, he is able to fulfil such conditions 



DOCTEmES OF THE USTNOVATOES, ETC. 269 

as stall insure his salvation — both the power of God and 
his own voluntary acts cooperating in the accomplishment of 
the work. 

2. Mee-Will 

Luther maintains " that man is devoid of freedom ; that 
every (pretended) free action is only apparent; that an irre- 
sistible divine necessity rules all things, and that every 
human act is at bottom only the act of God." * " The 
human will," says Luther, " is like a beast of burden. If 
God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills ; if Satan 
mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills. N'or can it 
choose the rider it would prefer, or betake itself to him, but it 
is the riders who contend for the possession." f 

Calvin, Bucer, Melancthon, and Zwinglius all entertained 
tlie same views respecting free-will. Armsdorf, one of 
Luther's most eminent disciples, thus writes : " By His will 
and speech, God worketh all things with all creatures. 
When God wills and speaks, stone and wood are carried, 
hewn and laid, how, when, and where He will. Thus, if God 
wills and speaks, man becomes converted, pious, and just. 
For, as stone and wood are, in the hand and power of God, 
so, in like manner, are the understanding and will of man in 
the hand and power of God ; so that man can absolutely will 
and choose nothing, but what God wills and speaks, either in 
grace or in wrath." I 

This denial of free-will and free-agency in man arose 
naturally and spontaneously from the peculiar views of the 
Reformers respecting original sin. If, by the fall, Adam lost 
all germs of goodness, all spiritual similitude and aiSnity 
with the Supreme Intelligence, and all capacity to receive 
good impressions, in consequence of his totally perverted 
and corrupt nature, the inference is legitimate that he also 
was deprived of free-will and power to contribute any thing 
to his own spiritual elevation and destiny. The innovators 

* Luth. de Serv. Arb. adv. Erasm. Kit. opp. ed. Lat. Jen., torn, ili., f. ITO. 
f De Servo Arbitrio, pnrs i., sec. 24. ^ Plauk's Hist., vol. iv., p. YOS. 



270 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

claim that Adam was placed in this terrible position by the 
Creator, independently of his own volition, without any 
power on his own part to alter his fixed destiny— that the 
act of disobedience was predetermined and prearranged be- 
fore his creation, and that he was a passive and powerless 
instrument in the hands of God— a necessary link in the 
grand design of the creation. Another predestined link in 
the divine programme, according to Calvin and his disciples, 
was the election of a certain portion for salvation, and of the 
other portion for eternal condemnation; and that these 
selections are made by God alone, independently of any 
efforts or works on the part of the creature. To those whom 
He has elected for salvation, He gives /aM, and by this gift 
alone they are justified, and assured of salvation, even if they 
commit the vilest sins daily; while the condemned victims 
are already judged, sentenced, and held for eternal punish- 
ment, though they commit no sin, and act uprightly and 
justly in all things. In all spiritual matters, these innovating 
theologians deny the existence of every thing like free-will 
and individual influence. Like clouds which are blown 
about by the winds, men are regarded as the powerless pup- 
pets and playthings of a foreordained, predestinated, and 
inexorable fate, powerless to change their destiny for good or 
evil, for heaven or hell. According to the Reformers, God 
alone possesses free-will ; He alone conceived and created the 
universe ; He alone planned the laws which preside over the 
kingdoms of nature ; He alone foreknew all things which 
should transpire in the world; and therefore that all things 
have been ordered and arranged by Divine Providence, in an 
immutable and inevitable manner, so that men are necessarily 
creatures of foreordained circumstances, without free agency, 
or power of changing their predestinated conditions. Hence,' 
they infer that God is the author of sin. Upon this first point, 
Luther expresses himself thus : " God forms in us evil as well 
as good; and the great perfection of faith consists in believ- 
ing that God is just, although He has predestinated us, from 
the beginning of the world, to be damned The foreknowl- 



DOCTRINES OF THE mNOVATOES, ETC, 271 

edge of God renders free-will al)Solutely impossible and 

God was not less the cause of tlie treason of Judas Iscariot 
than of the conversion of St. Paul." Wickliffe, and his dis- 
ciple, John Huss, entertained many of the opinions which 
were afterward adopted by Luther and his friends, although 
they were regarded by Melancthon as men full of errors, 
sophistry, and chicanery, and that their doctrines were cal- 
culated to lead men into all sorts of errors and excesses. 
Wickliffe contended that all things occur from absolute 
necessity ; that God acts from necessity in all things, and 
presides over a world of fixed and immutable laws, necessi- 
ties, and developments, and therefore that He is the author 
and approver of all sins, crimes, and calamities, as well as of 
all that is good and merciful. The Council of Constance was 
right in declaring that, according to his hypothesis, " God is 
obliged to obey the deviV Wickliffe, however, beb'eved in 
the invocation of saints, in purgatory, in honoring images, 
and in many of the essential doctrines of the Church ; but he 
denied the supremacy of the pope, and several of the discipli- 
nary canons of the Church. These facts are derived from his 
principal work, published in 1524, "The Trialogue." 

ISTo one can scrutinize the doctrines of the Reformers con- 
cerning original sin, free-will, and predestination, without 
conceding that they lead directly and necessarily to fatalism. 
The natural results of such sentiments are either religious 
bigotry and intolerance, or rationalism, atheism, and a gen- 
eral indifference to all matters pertaining to spiritual life. 
As we continue, these truths will be verified. 

3, Predestination. 

The following is Calvin's definition of predestination : 
" We call predestination that eternal decree of God, whereby 
He hath determined what the fate of every man shall be. 
For not to the same destiny are all created : for, to some is 
allotted eternal life ; to others, eternal damnation. Accord- 
ing as man is made for one end, or for the other, we call him 



272 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS COITFLICTS. 

predestinated to life, or to death." * Calvin declares that 
these predestinated decrees of God are determined without 
any reference to the virtues or the vices of those He has 
elected for salvation, or condemned to eternal punishment. 
The Reformers maintain that God is the author of all things, 
good and bad, and that whatsoever comes to pass is from 
a necessity incident to the origin, design, and creation of the 
universe. 

The absolute predestination of the innovators is nothing- 
more or less than Mohammedan fatalism under another name! 
Mohammedans maintain that God foreknew, foreordained, 
and prearranged whatever should transpire from the com- 
mencement to the end of the world ; and that man is only 
a preorganized constituent of the universe, whose career and 
destiny had been irrevocably fixed before the creation of the 
world. So little faith have these fatalists that any personal 
efforts can alter or modify the fixed decrees of the Almighty, 
that in thousands of instances, they have refused to take or- 
dinary measures to shield themselves from impending dan- 
gers. If it is fated that some calamity is to befall them, they 
regard all efforts or works on their parts as unavailing ; while 
if the decree has gone forth that they are to be rescued from 
harm., the inevitable result Avill be accomplished whether 
they desire it or not, or whether they exert themselves or 
not. These are the doctrines of modern predestinationists. 
The hypothesis of Luther and his co-innovators, upon this sub- 
ject, both theoretically and practically, is identical with 
that of Islam. " The fundamental principle of the Reformers 
vv^as, that, without any human cooperation, the Divine Spirit 
penetrated into the soul of the true Christian, and that the lat- 
ter, in his relation to the former, is with respect to all religious 
feeling, thought, and will, perfectly passive." f 

If the doctrines of the predestinationists are true, and all 
the thoughts, actions, and destinies of men are governed 
and directed by the will and power of God alone— mew being 
deprived of all cooperation— of what use are the Bible, hu- 

* Calvin's Inst., lib. iii. p. 33Y. f Mccliler's Symbolism, p. 420. 



DOCTEINES OF THE INNOVATOKS, ETC. 273 

man creeds, theological discussions, and sects ? If God has 
predestinated for all men their careers and destinies, inde- 
pendently of their OAvn wills and efforts, how presumptuous 
are all human attempts to interfere in these fixed and im- 
mutable arrangements of the Almighty ! How impious in 
mortals to manufacture confessions of faith, to wrangle and 
preach on doctrinal points, and to incite nations to hostility, 
strife, and bloodshed, when God alone has irrevocably or- 
dered and permanently arranged all things from the begin- 
ning to the end ! Will it be urged that the Infinite Fountain 
of love and mercy has deliberately designed and predesti- 
nated these conflicting tenets of the Reformers, and the conse- 
quent contentions, wars, and calamities with which they 
have since afflicted the nations of the earth ? We envy not 
the hearts and consciences of those who dare impute to 
God such palpable injustice and wanton cruelty, rather than 
to acknowledge their own inabihty to comprehend the mys- 
teries with which He has surrounded the works of His hands. 
These peculiar views of original sin, free-will, and pre- 
destination, developed as a logical sequence the dogma of 
" Ekction^^ — one of Calvin's five theological points. 



4. Justification hy Faith, 

To those who have adopted the hypotheses of the innovators 
respecting original sin, free-will, predestination, and the in- 
efficacy of good works as cooperative means of salvation, the 
following pertinent queries must continually present them- 
selves. Who are to be saved? How is salvation to be 
secured ? Who can be assured of salvation ? We take the 
liberty of presenting briefly a few of the arguments and in- 
ferences of the Reformers touching these points. 

Since the fall of Adam every human being became totally 
depraved, and incapable of receiving any good impression, 
or of performing any meritorious act, Luther, Calvin, and 
other sectaries of their epoch, inferred that no m^an is a free 
agent. Who then are to be saved ? According to the inno- 
12- 



274 CHKISTIANITY AlTD ITS CONFLICTS. 

vators, those only whom God has foreordained and predes- 
tinated to this hai^py destiny before the foundation of the 
world ; while judgment of eternal condemnation was rendered 
against the remainder at the same pre-mundane period. 

How, then, can man be assured of salvation ? The Re- 
formers assert that this may be known by the actual posses- 
sion oi faith which God forcibly implants within him, whether 
he desires it or not, or whether he performs good works or 
not. When this faith once takes possession of him, he is 
justified and sanctified — he must be saved, with or without 
sin, with or without good works— and the very fact that he 
believes renders it certain that he is one of the elect. This 
doctrine of justification by faith originated with Luther, and 
was afterward adopted by Calvin, Melancthon, Zwinglius, 
Bucer, and their followers. One of the canons of the Synod 
of Dordrect declares, " that God gives true and vivid faith to 
all those whom He desires to rescue from damnation, and to 
those alone; that this faith is a gift of God; and that all of 
the elect are assured of their election by certain infallible 
tests." In illustration of Luther's tenacity with regard to 
the doctrine of justification by faith alone without works, 
D'Aubigne quotes the following observation of Luther : " I 
see that the devil is continually attacking this fundamental 
article by means of his doctors, and that in this respect he 
can never cease or take any repose. Well, then, I, Doctor 
Martin Luther, unworthy herald of the gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, confess this article, that faith alone without 
worJcs justifies before God; and I declare that it shall stand 
and remain forever in despite the emperor of the Romans, the 
emperor of the Turks, the emperor of the Tartars, the em- 
peror of the Persians ; in spite of the pope and all the cardi- 
nals, with the priests, bishops, monks, and nuns ; in spite of 
kings, princes, and nobles; and in spite of all the world, and 
of the devils themselves; and that, if they endeavor to fight 
against this truth, they will draw the fires of hell upon their 
heads. This is the true and holy gospel, and the declaration 
of me, Doctor Luther, according to the teaching of the Holy 



DOCTEINES OF THE INNOVATOES, ETC. 275 

Ghost I say it once again, should all the world and all 

the devils tear each other to pieces and burst with rage, that 
it is not the less true." * So tenacious of this dogma was 
Luther, that he actually mistranslated and i^erverted de- 
liberately a portion of the Bible, and rejected other portions, 
in order that his own theological platform might be sustained. 
For example, St. Peter wrote these words : " Labor that by 
good works you may make sure of your vocation and elec- 
tion." Luther thus corrupts the sentence : " Labor that you 
make sure your vocation and election," omittiiig the import- 
ant words, " by good works." Zwinglius, one of his fellow- 
innovators, sent him a letter with the following reproof: 
" Thou corruptest the word of God, O Luther: thou art seen 
to be a manifest and common corrupter and perverter of the 
Holy Scriptures ; how much are we ashamed of thee, who 
have hitherto esteemed thee beyond all measure, and prove 
thee to be such a man!"t I^uther at one time also denied 
the authenticity and inspiration of three of the gospels, de- 
claring that the Gospel of St John is the only one which is 
truly inspired. At one period of his life he likewise rejected 
the ten commandments, on the ground that they were first 
written by Moses, and were, therefore, only intended for the 
men of the old dispensation, '' The ten commandments," 

says Luther, " belong not to Christians Let the ten 

commandments be altogether rejected, and all heresy will 
presently cease ; for the ten commandments are, as it were, 
the fountain from whence all heresies spring." J Whenever 
the declarations of the apostles clashed with the theological 
tenets of Luther or Calvin, they impiously rejected these 
apostolic teachings and substituted their own in their stead. 
These modern apostles were especially hostile to those special 
favorites of our Saviour, Saints Paul and Peter. Calvin even 
asserted " that Peter added to the schism of the Church, to the 



* "History of the Keformation," page '71. 

f Zwinglius, t. ii., ad Luth. lib, de S. 

X " Serm. de Mose." In Carvival. Colloq, Cit. by Auri Cap. de Lega 



276 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

endangering of Christian liberty, and the overthrow of the 
grace of Christ." 

Most Protestants claim that all of those who are selected 
for salvation are endowed from above, not only with faith 
and an intuitive knowledge that they are among the elect, 
but with irresistible tendencies to perform good works; 
while the condemned are cursed with inherent and perpetual 
unbelief, and a continual and helpless impulse to do evil. 
" The Protestants of the sixteenth century," says Moehler, 
"with their doctrine of justification, swore eternal enmity to 
the heroic virtues of Christianity, and effectually dried up 
that mighty stream of charity which had fertilized and em- 
bellished our European soil, and covered it with countless in- 
stitutions, formed to glorify God, and solace, sustain, and 

exalt humanity These doctrines of unbelief, taught by 

the immense majority of the Protestant clergy, penetrated 
by degrees among all classes of the laity, and led to the gen- 
eral neglect of divine service, to the perversion of youth in 
the establishments of education, to the desecration of the 
Sabbath, the fearful multiplication of divorce, and to general 
demoralization." * Even during the lives of the Reformers 
every form of infidelity, immorality, and vice, made rapid 
progress. This has been repeatedly admitted by Luther, 
Such was the legitimate and inevitable result of throwing 
off the salutary restraints of the ancient Church, and openino- 
a door to private interpretation of Holy Writ, and to the 
intellectual and moral idiosyncrasies and propensities of 
individuals. In future chapters we shall show that similar 
results have obtained from the days of Luther to the present 
time. We shall demonstrate the antichristian and demoral- 
izing influences of Protestantism wherever it has obtained a 
foothold, making use of the sacred doctrines of Jesus Christ 
and His inspired apostles as our standard of comparison. 

The Reformers could not have conceived of a more efficient 
mode of making proselytes to their novel religions than 
through predestination, the inefiicacy of good works, and 
* " Symbolism," page 34. 



ETC. 277 

justification by faith. They shifted all responsibility from 
the creature to the Creator. They taught that every thing 
which has transpired, or will transpire from the beginning 
to the end of the world, were accomplished facts with the 
Almighty before the creation, and, therefore, that all co- 
operative efforts oil the part of mortals in the accomplish- 
ment of regeneration, justification, and sanctification, are not 
only useless, but wicked and officious interferences with the 
exclusive prerogative of God. So far has this last idea been 
pushed by several of the Reformers, that they have actually 
sanctioned the commission of sin in order that grace might 
abound, and that God might receive all the glory of the 
v^^oi'k of regeneration and salvation. We cite a few extracts 
from the writings of the innovators upon this subject. Luther 
maintained, '' that no works could possibly be pure and ac- 
ceptable to the Deity ; that e\'en the best work is a venial 
sin ; that every so-called good work — that is to say, every 
act of a believer — is, when considered in itself, a mortal sin, 
though, by reason of faith, it is remitted to him. Melanc- 
thon not only expressed full concurrence in this doctrine of - 
his master, but carried it out to an extreme, by asserting 
that all our works, all our endeavors, are nothing hut sin, 
Calvin corroborated the assertions of both."* In 1559, Van 
Amsdorf, the intimate friend and disciple of Luther, pub- 
lished an elaborate work, entitled " The Proposition of N. 
Van Amsdorf," in which he attempted to show " that good 
works were even hurtful to salvation." Another eminent 
disciple of Luther, Major, asserts, " that faith alone saves ; 
by faith alone we are justified vnthout works." f " N'o w thou 
seest," says Luther, " how rich is the Christian or the bap- 
tized man; for, though he will, he cannot lose his salvation, 
hoicever great his sins may he, unless he refifses to helieve.^^l 
Again, Luther writes : " Sin lustily, but be yet more lusty in 
faith, and rejoice in Christ, who is the conqueror of sin, of 
death, and of the world. Sin we must, so long as v,^e remain 

* " Symbolism," page 242. f Solid. Declar. iv., page 6'72. 

X Captiv. Bab., tom. ii., fol. 264. 



^78 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

here. It suffices, that, through the riches of the glory of 
God, we know the Lamb which taketh away the sins of the 
world ; from Him no sins will sever us, though a million times 
in a day we should fornicate or commit adultery." * 

This exhortation of the great innovator to commit sin, 
this wanton inculcation of its absolute necessity, and his bold 
assurance of the impunity with which the vilest sins may 
continually be committed, provided tliat they are accom- 
panied by faith in Lutheranism^ was a direct appeal to the 
carnal propensities of mankind. Under the specious pretext 
of liberating the world from the bigotries, abuses, and re- 
straints of the Church, these men established a reign of intel- 
lectual and moral licentiousness which has filled the world 
with irreligion and immorality, and shaken the very founda- 
tions of Christianity itself. The human mind is prone to 
adopt those sentiments which afford the greatest scope to 
the indulgence of passion and pleasure. To gratify these in- 
dulgences it is constantly seeking for plausible novelties and 
philosophies. The fatalistic doctrines of the Reformers fur- 
nished a stand-point for this weak side of human nature. 

Who can contemplate these re/ormec? ideas of God and 
His New Law without a shudder of horror and indignation ? 
Who can seriously believe that a Being of infinite love and 
mercy would foreordain and predestinate a single one of His 
helpless creatures to eternal perdition ? Were such an atro- 
cious doctrine asserted of Satan himself, it would scarcely 
receive credence. But notwithstanding these supposed pre- 
determined and irrevocable decrees of God, many of the in- 
novators have had the inconsistency to urge men on to such 
mental efforts as shall produce faith, assuring them, when 
this is once attained, that they may be certain that they are 
among the elect ! The dangers of this fallacy will be appar- 
ent to all who examine the positive declarations and com- 
mands of Christ -respecting those things which are essential 
to salvation, like baptism, penance, and obedience to the 
Commandments. Many minds are so constituted, so prone 
* Epist. Luth. Job. Aur. Coll., torn, i., page 54-5. 



DOCTEmES OP THE mNOVATOES, ETC. 270 

to credulity, and so readily moulded in accordance with any 
given formulary, that only moderate efforts are requisite to 
superinduce /tKii^A in any hypothesis which may be presented, 
however absurd and untenable. Faith is one of the most 
common and easily-developed elements of the human mind. 
From childhood, onward, it is continually seeking for objects 
to cling to — for hypotheses, theories, philosophies, and creeds, 
as means of utility, consolation, or happiness. A sectary coins 
a new religious creed, abounding in gross perversions of the 
Scriptures, and the most impious ideas respecting the good- 
ness and mercy of God, and then solicits faith in this creed 
as the sole condition of salvation. Were there many thou- 
sands of these human creeds, all false, and all pernicious in 
their tendencies, they would all have their followers, firm in 
faith^ and thorough and consistent in practice. Each sectary 
coins a religion from his own brain, flanked here and there 
by isolated and often corrupted passages from the Scriptures, 
and then solicits faith in this human invention as the only 
condition of eternal happiness in the world to come. Each 
one professes to possess certain infallible marks, by which 
the divine origin and truthfulness of his religion is apparent, 
and each one can point out fatal objections to the religions of 
his neighbors. The Calvinist, who believes that God has 
condemned a certain number of His creatures to everlasting 
punishment, denounces the creed of the Universalist, which 
asserts that all mankind are saved. The Trinitarian enter- 
tains a horror of the creed of the Unitarian. The believer in 
justification by faith alone regards all cooperative w^orks of 
men, for the purpose of securing salvation, as useless and 
insulting to the Deity. . Lutherans, Calvinists, Anabaptists, 
Herrnhuters, Moravians, Methodists, Unitarians, Quakers, 
Anglicans, Universalists, Millerites, Mormons, Spiritualists, 
and all of the sects, have perfect faith in their own peculiar 
interpretations of the Bible, and in their own peculiar reli- 
gions. ISfiW faith save them all? One sectary interprets 
the Scriptures in such a manner as to make God the author 
and creator of sin, and the eternal punisher and tormentor of 



280 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

a certain number of helpless victims of His wrath. Will 
faith in such a doctrine secure salvation ? Another denies 
the divinity of Jesus Christ, and regards Him only in the 
light of a prophet. Will such a faith save him?. Another 
declares that there is no hell, no eternal punishment, no 
devil. Will faith in this creed rescue the honest believer 
from the penalties attached to a neglect or violation of the 
positive laws and commands of God ? Some reject portions 
of the Holy Scriptures, and accuse the inspired apostles of 
errors and schismatic teachings because their precepts clash 
with their own individual and rationalistic hypotheses. Will 
ever so strong a faith in such private interpretations of the 
word of God justify and sanctify ? Others, deriving their 
inspiration from the Bible, teach that it is right to commit 
sin, in order that grace may abound. Will faith in such an 
interpretation lead to heaven ? Many have faith in the utter 
impotency of mortals in all matters pertaining to their spirit- 
ual welfare, and place the responsibility of all good and bad 
deeds upon the Almighty. Will such faith carry one safely 
to the haven of bliss ? 

Some absolute predestinationists assert that good works 
always follow of necessity in the train of true faitJi ; and 
that this combination of faith and works is a sure indication 
of the real Christian. This argument falls to the ground 
when we remember the fact that the most moral, benevolent, 
and charitable men of the world, and whose Hves are blame- 
less, are to be found among those who deny the divinity of 
the Saviour, the necessity of baptism, the existence of a 
future state of punishment, and many of the sacred writings. 
These men have the strongest faith in their own dogmas, 
worship God in sincerity, and do unto others as they would 
be done by. Good works accompany their faith. Are they 
also among the elect ? Are they also justified by faith ? 

Faith in some kind of religion is an instinctive want of the 
human mind ; and, in most instances, consistent and appro- 
priate works accompany this fxith. Christians have not 
firmer faith in the Bible than have the Mohammedans in the 



ETC. 281 

Koran ; nor do the former obey the precepts of their religion 
with more rigidity than do the latter. The same is true of 
the Hindoo, the Brahmin, the Bhuddist, and the savage who 
worships the Great Spirit. Christians who have rejected 
the divinely-founded and divinely-endowed Church of Christ, 
and adopted the novel inventions of men, are often perfectly 
sincere and earnest in their religious convictions. They have 
firm faith in some creed, live and practise in accordance with 
it, and are fruitful in good works. But among the thousand 
contradictory and conflicting sects, v/ho can decide which is 
true and which false? Among the innumerable Reformed 
churches, with difierent articles of faith, different modes of 
worship, and different ideas respecting the duties and neces- 
sities of mau, how can we find the one Church, one fold, 
and one Shepherd which Jesus founded, v/ith one Lord, one 
faith, and one baptism ? Can we detect it in any one of 
the numerous reformed confessions of faith, from any special 
morality and virtue pertaining to some one of the sects ; from 
a resemblance between the members of some reformed church 
•and the holy apostles ; or from any infallible marks which 
indicate that a divine theological Phoenix, which had slum- 
bered profoundly for fifteen centuries, has again risen, at the 
bidding of a German monk, from the ashes of the past ? Or 
shall we discover it, by seeking for that Church which has 
existed and been visible from the days of Christ to the pres- 
ent moment — which is universal — whose doctrines are un- 
varying, and whose priests and missionaries, ever since the 
time of the apostles, have visited all of the nations of the 
earth to preach and teach the word of God, who have braved 
every danger and hardship, and in almost countless instances 
have suffered martyrdom in the cause of Christ ? 

Jiistifleation b^ faith ! Faith in what ? In the personal 
inspiration, private Scriptural interpretation, and the creed 
and religion of some individual reformer ? Faith in Luther- 
anism, or Calvinism, or Socinianism, or Anabaptism, or Ar- 
minianism, or Quakerism, or some other sect ? Faith that God 
is God. and that Laither, or Calvin, or Socinius, or Arminius, 



282 CIIEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

or Fox is His propliet ? Faith not in the one original Church, 
but in one which was brought into existence by one of the 
German, or Anglican, or Swiss innovators of the sixteentli 
century ? Faith that Christ's mission was a failure, that His 
Church was dead and invisible for fifteen hundred years, 
that millions of human beings perished in ignorance and sin 
in consequence of the non-fulfilment of the Word of God 
through the apostles and their successors, until Martin Lu- 
ther, or Calvin, or some one of the Reformers brought light 
out of darkness in the form of Lutheranism or Calvinism ? 
Faith that Christ is the Son of God, and that the Reformers 
of these latter days are His only true prophets and interpre- 
ters ? Faith that a simple, naked, mental act, without works, 
without obedience to the commandments, and without regard 
to the numerous practical injunctions contained in the Sacred 
Writings, is the sole practical duty of man toward his Maker, 
himself, and his fellow-men ? 

Those who adopt the fatalistic doctrines of the Reformers 
do not require a Bible, a confession of faith, or even a moral 
code, since all things — good and evil — must come to pass in 
precise accordance with the predestinated decrees of God. 
The Holy Scriptures assert that faith without works is dead ; 
and the kind of works which are requisite are accurately 
prescribed in the sacred commandments and ordinances. 
Faith is, indeed, one of the fundamental elements of Christi- 
anity, but its signification must not be limited to a simple 
mental act. The entire tenor of the Sacred Writings teaches 
us that by the word faith, Christ included not only a belief m 
all His teachings, but a practical performance of them. The 
definition which He gave of "love of God," is applicable to 
faith. " In what consists the love of God ? Love of God 
consists in obeying the commandments." In like manner 
faith consists in a belief in Christ and His mission, and in 
obedience to the commandments. 

The inculcation of the doctrine of justification by faith 
alone, has been a most fruitful source of evil. A few of its 
legitimate consequences have been, a practical repudiation 



DOCTEIISrES OF THE INJSTOVATOES, ETC. 283 

of the laws and commandments of the Scriptures and of all 
personal responsibilities and duties in spiritual matters, a par- 
alyzation of all personal effort and cooperation in the great 
work of redemption and salvation, and an alarming tendency 
to rationalism and religious skepticism. 

'No one can examine critically and impartially the inno- 
vations of the Reformers without arriving at the conclusion 
that their tendencies are evil and anti- Christian. The gospel 
teaches that God is a Being of infinite love and mercy ; the 
innovators regard Him as a malignant demon, who has de- 
liberately created a certain number of helpless creatures for 
the express purpose of tormenting them forever ! Christ in- 
culcated the necessity of faith in and actual obedience to all 
His commandments and ordinances, as conditions of salva- 
tion : the innovators ignore good works, and rely on faith 
alone as the sole duty of the Christian. The Bible teaches 
that man is a free agent, and that he must personally exert 
himself and actively cooperate with the blessed influences of 
the Holy Spirit if he would serve God acceptably, and secure 
his eternal welfare : the Reformers regard man as a passive 
instrument in the hands of the Supreme Architect, and that 
any attempts at personal interference, effort, or cooperation 
in the work of regeneration and sanctification, are wicked 
and censurable. " In studying the writings of the Reformers," 
says Moehler, " the theught has often involuntarily occurred 
to us, that they entertained the opinion that it was some- 
thing extremely dangerous to be really good ; nay, that the 
principle of sanctity, so soon as it was on the point of acquir- 
ing complete dominion over a man, contained the germ of 
its own destruction, as such a man must needs become arro- 
gant, fall into vain-glory, liken himself to the Eternal, and 
contend with Him for divine sovereignty. Hence the se- 
curity of believers seemed to require that they should ever 
keep within themselves a good germ of evil, because in this 
state we are better off! Accordingly, the matter was so 
handled, as if real goodness were incompatible with humility, 
and as if it were in evil only that this virtue flourished ; where- 



284 CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

as it was not considered that wickedness was in itself the con- 
trary of true humility, and utterly excluded it." * 

The spirit which pervades the writings of the Reformers, 
faily warrants the above inferences, and the practical influ- 
ences of their tenets upon morals, manners, and society have 
everywhere been demoralizing and unchristian. In proof, 
we cite a few extracts from the writings of Luther and Cal- 
vin : " But the gospel preacheth not what we are to do, and 
not do ; requires nothing of us, but turns round, doth the re- 
verse, and saith not. Do this, do that, but bids us only hold 
out our laps, and saith, Dear man, this hath God done for 
thee — He hath sent His Son into the flesh for thee, He hath 
let Him be slain for thy sake, and hath redeemed thee from 
sin, death, the devil, and hell: this believe and hold, and 
then thou art saved." f " It would not be quite good for 
us," says Luther, " to do all that God commands, for He 
would thereby be deprived of His divinity, and would be- 
come a liar, and could not remain true. The authority of St. 
Paul, too, would be overturned, for he says in Komans : 
' God hath concluded all things under sin, in order that He 
might have mercy on all men.' " J Calvin says : " N'ever hath 
a man, not even one regenerated in the faith in Christ, 
wrought a morally good work — a work which, if it were 
strictly judged, would not be damnable." 

It would be difficult to read a sing-le chapter of the IS^ew 
Testament v/ithout finding inspired sentiments in direct op- 
position to these reformed teachings. While we concede that 
isolated passages may be distorted from their real significa- 
tions, and made use of by designing men to bolster up an 
absurd hypothesis or a profane theological innovation, the 
great fact nevertheless remains that the 'New Law was given 
us expressly as a rule of religious faith and a practical work- 
ing code. The entire spirit of the gosj)el inculcates the ab- 
solute necessity of both faith and vforks, " Faith without 
works is dead." " Let your light so shine before men, that 
- * " Symbolism," p. 230. f Luth. Comment, on Ep. to Gall., loc. cit, p. 257. 
:{:Lnth., "Table-Talk," p. 166. 



ETC. 285 

they may see your good works, and glorify your Father 
which is in heaven." * " Marvel not at this : for the hour 
is coming, in the Avhich all that are in their graves shall 
hear His voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done 
good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done 
evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." f " Whosoever 
shall give you a cup of water to drink in My name, because 
ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose 
his reward." J In this instance Christ not only required 
faith in Himself and in His divine mission, but He demand- 
ed the act of giving the water. When the young man 
came to Christ and asked Him what he should do to have 
eternal life, " Jesus answered him, But if thou wilt enter into 
life, Jceep the commandments.'''' In this instance the Saviour 
recognized the free agency of the young man, and the neces- 
sity of performing good works by keeping the commandments. 
This obedience to the commandments, conjoined with faith, 
were all that our Saviour absolutely required ; and when the 
young man informed Him that he had kept all of these things 
from his youth up, and again inquired what he yet lacked ; 
" Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that 
thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure 
in heaven: and come and follow Me." § 

In both of these examples, worhs are demanded — in the 
first instance, certain definite works, in order to secure salva- 
tion ; and still other works, more difficult and self-denying, in 
order to achieve the highest degree of excellence — perfection. 
As all men are to be rewarded in heaven accordmg to the 
deeds done in the hody^ the perfect Christian will occupy a 
higher place in heaven than he who simply obeys the com- 
mandments. In their doctrinal innovations, Luther and his 
contemporary Reformers violated at every point the spirit 
and intent of the Sacred Writings. In their efibrts to sustain 
the hypothesis that faith, in its abstract sense, alone saves, 
they did not hesitate to corrupt, pervert, and distort the 

* Matt. V. 16. f John v. 28, 29. 

X Mark x. 41. § Matt, xix, 16, 20, 21, 



CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

plain teachings of Christ and the apostles. " Salvation the 
Catholic attaches only to the individual interior life of the 
regenerated — to faith and love — to the fulfilment of the law, 
or to the concurrence of the religious and ethical principles : 
he places both in an equal relation to a future life, for both 
alike possess an eternal value." * 

We most earnestly invite the renewed attention of Protes- 
tants to this important subject. We entreat them to cast 
aside their preconceived notions and prejudices, contemplate 
seriously the beneficent interpretation which the Church has 
handed down from the apostles upon this subject, and con- 
trast this view with the innovations of the Reformers. We 
beseech them to remember that this, as well as all of the 
other doctrines of the Church, are of divine origin. N'o Cath- 
olic has ever dared to affix his name to these sacred truths, 
with a view of achieving notoriety, or of gratifying an unhal- 
lowed ambition, l^o individual has ever presumed to come 
within the sacred enclosure of the Church, and set up his pri- 
vate opinions against her divinely-endowed and divinely-pro- 
tected truths. The innovators have never attempted to enter 
in at the door to present their complaints, but have climbed 
up on the outer walls of the great fortress of Christianity and 
delivered their impotent blows against this impregnable 
bulwark of truth. This fortress of Christianity still stands 
immutable, and affords protection, hope, and consolation to 
more than two hundred millions of true believers. 
* " Symbolism," p. 297 



CHAPTEE XXIY. 

TRAITS OF A FEW OF THE PROMINENT INNOVATORS. 
Imther. 

One of the most notable circumstances connected with 
the career of Martin Luther, consists in the marked contrast 
which we find in his mind, morals, and life, as a Catholic monk 
and a Protestant Reformer. Every medical man who exam- 
ines critically the career of this unfortunate gentleman, must 
come to the conclusion that he sufiered, during certain por- 
tions of his innovating career, from that variety of mental 
perversion which medical men term religious monomania. 
So long as he resided within the walls of the Erfurth monas- 
tery as an Augustine monk, and submitted to the rules and 
regulations of the order, he was temperate, modest, moral, 
and faithful to all of his duties. During this entire period 
he was charitable, patient, tolerant, and just toward all men, 
firm and unwavering in his religious convictions, and prompt 
and faithful in their performance. 

Although his parents were in humble circumstances, he 
succeeded in securing the aid of able teachers, and his native 
talent and thirst for knowledge impelled him to such a course 
of study as enabled him to become a moderately good lin- 
guist, and passably well acquainted with the theological lit- 
erature of his day. As an orator, he possessed remarkable 
powers. His flow of language, his memory, and his fund of 
metaphor, raillery, invective, and sarcasm, were inexhaustible. 



288 CHEISTIAmTY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

As a polemictil writer, he also possessed powers of no com- 
mon order. As soon as lie had fairly detached himself from 
the Church, all these natural faculties were brought into 
action, and became the sport and playthings of a perverted, 
yea, a deranged intellect. Behold him as a child, a youth, 
a devoted monk — ^amiable, conscientious, and eager to per- 
form his religious duties : then as a Reformer — bold, intoler- 
ant, intemperate, reckless, fanatical. 

In the year 1517 Luther was thirty-three years of age, 
and had been an Augustinian monk for eleven years. Up to 
this time he had remained true to the Church in faith and in 
practice. From the ^' History of the Council of Trent " we 
learn that " Luther's first opposition to the Church originated 
in Pope Leo's deviation from the previous custom of consign- 
ing the dispensation of indulgences solely to the Augustin- 
ians. The object of these spiritual privileges, or indulgences, 
was the obtaining of alms toward rebuilding the Vatican 
Church." * The promulgation of these indulgences was in- 
trusted in part to the Dominicans, and in part to the Fran- 
ciscans. As an Augustinian, Luther resented this transfer of 
patronage, and here we find the original motive of his inno- 
vations. In Luther's day, the rivalry between the difierent 
religious orders in Germany was quite strongly pronounced. 
It was natural that each should desire to secure and retain 
as much patronage and influence as possible. And this fact 
readily explains the impulse of Luther and his brethren of 
the Augustinian order, in their opposition to the transfer of 
the dispensation of indulgences to their rivals the Domini- 
cans. Here is the germ of Luther's dejection — a small spark 
of envy developed in a naturally impulsive and inflammable 
heart. Here was an insignificant morbid element which was 
destined to contaminate the whole moral and intellectual na- 
ture of the man, and rouse into activity the fires of passion, 
ambition, and blind frenzy. Step by step he trampled upon 
the truths of religion, and madly seized hold of error after 
error, until finally even his own friends regarded him as a 
* Council of Trent, p. v. 



TRAITS OF A FEW OF THE PROMINENT INNOVATORS. 289 

perverted and ferocious fanatic. At this time Luther was a 
professor of philosophy at the University of Wittenberg. 
"He had conceived a disrelish for the prevailing philosophy 
of Aristotle, and the scholastic system of St. Thomas ; and 
burning already, it is said, though for what cause does not 
seem clear, with a fierce hatred against the court of Rome, 
he was eager and able to seize on the reputed exaggerations of 
Tetzel and his compeers, in the matter of indulgences, to vent 
his bile against a rival order, and through them against the 
Roman court ; to obtain notoriety for himself; to indulge his 
humor for novelty ; and to appear in the attractive character 
of a zealot and a Reformer. Luther's character is impressed 
on almost every page of his writings, and on the great events 
of his life. To considerable learning, acquired by patient 
study under able masters, he united great intrepidity, fer- 
tility of resource, singular readiness of plain but nervous 
language and metaphor, fondness of applause, coupled with 
an unbounded love of self and of authority, which burst forth 
almost into frenzy against those of his party who dared op- 
pose him; and above all a truculent ferocity of abuse, v^^hich, 
throughout his whole career, he heaped, without considera- 
tion of eminence of rank, or person, or character, upon every 
foe, or former friend." * When Vergerius, the legate of 
Paul IIL, visited Wittenberg, to confer with the elector in 
1535 respecting the holding of a general council, Luther was 
introduced to him by the elector. He writes : " To give 
my opinion, derived from his countenance, dress, gestures, 
and words, be he a man of talent or not, he is the very per- 
sonification of pride, malice, and impudence." 

During the height of his popularity, he was almost con- 
tinually under the influence of morbid impressions. His 
chief hallucinations consisted in imaginary visions of Satan, 
and of men with horns and tails, with the features of animals, 
converted into various inanimate objects, clad in all sorts of 
strange and fantastic garbs, some foaming at the mouth, 
others roaring and screaming with rage. While staying at 

* Council of Trent, p. vii. 
13 



290 CHEISTIANITY AHD ITS CONFLICTS. 

the castle of Wartburg, he himself declares " that he had 
conferences with the devil;" he describes the appearance, 
voice, and manner of his Satanic friend ; holds arguments 
with him concerning private masses ; acknowledges that the 
devil gets the best of the argument, and convinces him of 
his errors; and he decides to follow his advice. He believed 
that his opponents were all possessed of devils, and when 
they die, that the devil strangles them. One of his own dis- 
ciples, and a leading Reformer, (Ecolarapadius, wrote of him 
as follows : " He is puffed up with pride and arrogance, and 
is seduced by Satan." The same brother Reformer adds in 
another place, " that he was possessed not by one, but by a 
whole troop of devils," '^ " and that he wrote all his works 
by the impulse and the dictation of the devil, with whom he 
had dealings, and who in the struggle seemed to have thrown 
him by victorious arguments." f " This man," says another 
contemporaneous Reformer, " is absolutely mad. He never 
ceases to combat truth against all justice, even against the 
cry of his own conscience." J It was a favorite saying of 
his, '^ that unless we have the devil hanging about our necks 
w^e are but pitiful speculative theologians." § His brother 
Protestants of the Church of Zurich wrote of him as follows: 
" But how strangely does this fellow let himself be carried 
away by his devils ! How disgusting is his language, and 
how full are his words of the devil of hell ! " || 

One of the most deplorable features of Luther's mental 
perversion, was his shameless blasphemy against religion, 
the Church, and even God Himself. It is a mystery how a 
mind of this order could have led astray so many intelligent 
and reasoning believers in Christianity. It is a marvel that 
a man whose daily life demonstrated the fact that his brain 
was disordered, could have coined a new creed, a new reli- 
gion, dubbed it with his ov/n name, and then have secured a 
sect of believers and followers ! We can only explain the 

* Audin, p. 188. f Cont. Conf. Lutli., p. 61, 

X Hospinian. § Audin, p. 3G6. 

I Ohurcli of Zurich, Cont. Conf. Luth. , 



TEAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMIKENT mHOVATOSS. 291 

phenomenon, upon the theory advanced by Bishop Butler in 
his " Analogy," " that entire communities, as well as individ- 
uals, sometimes become insane." We cite a few of Luther's 
blasphemous observations : "I owe more to my dear Cathe- 
rine and to Philip than to God Himself." * Again : " God 
has made many mistakes. I would have given Him good 
advice had I assisted at the creation. I would have made 
the sun shine_incessantly ; the day would have been without 

end."f Again: "May the name of the pope be d d; 

may his reign be abolished ; may his will be restrained. If 
I thought that God did not hear my prayer, I would address 
the devil." J In his theological controversy with Emser, he 
writes as follows : "After a little time I v/ill pray against 
him ; ... for it is better that he should perish, than that he 
should continue to blaspheme Christ. I do not wish you to 
pray for this wretch, pray for us alone." § In addressing 
his disciples on one occasion, he told them that if they would 
obey him in all things he Avould secure to them all sorts of 
"graces and privileges from his majesty. If you disobey 
me, I declare to you that I will become your enemy, and do 
all the mischief possible to this city." || 

Sleidan, a Protestant historian of the time, not only as- 
serts that Luther was very immoral, but that he often ac- 
knowledged it. Melancthon - asserts " that he (Luther) was 
so well aware of his immorality, that he wished they would 
remove him from the office of preaching." ^ Maimbourg 
declares that he was often intoxicated at banquets, and on 
one occasion of this kind thus addressed his friends: "My 
dear friends, we cannot die till we have caught hold of Luci- 
fer by the tail. I saw his back yesterday from the castle 
turrets." ^* Alluding to his seduction and marriage of the 
nun Catherine Bore, Luther remarked soon after the per- 

* " Table-Talk," p. 124, Ed. Eiselben. 

f Ibid., E. Frank, part'ii., fol. 20. X I^id., p. 213. 

§ Epis. ad. Nich. Hauseman, April 26, 1520. 

II "Table-Talk," p. 376. ^ Sleidan, b. ii., An. 1520. 

-** Leckendorf, lib. iii. 



292 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

formance of the ceremony, "that he had made himself so vile 
and contemptible by these nuptials, that he hopes all the 
angels will laugh, and all the demons weep." * For many 
years Luther was in the habit of passing his evenings at the 
"Black Eagle Tavern" of Wittenberg, and of indulging 
largely, often intemperately, in malt liquors and other po- 
tations. Many of his blasphemous sentiments were uttered 
while under the influence of these stimulants. 

Not only Luther, but his friends and disciples Melanc- 
thon and Bucer, openly sanctioned polygamy, as may be 
seen in the written permission which they gave Philip, the 
Landgrave of Hesse, to marry a second wife while the hrst 
one was living and undivorced. Karlstadt went still further, 
and desired to make polygamy an oUigatory duty. 

Luther was also both intolerant and cruel, as his ferocious 
persecutions of the Anabaptists and other innovating oppo- 
nents bear witness. In 1536, at the Lutheran Synod of 
Homberg, Luther, Melancthon, and other prominent innova- 
tors, voted in favor of putting to death every Anabaptist 
who persisted in his doctrines, or v/ho should return again 
after banishment. In a future chapter we shall see that 
their Puritan disciples who came to America in the May- 
flower, enacted similar laws, and inflicted the same penalties 
on the Quakers and Baptists of Massachusetts Bay in 1659. 
At this synod the following decree was enacted, at the insti- 
gation of Luther and his friends: "Whoever rejects infant 
baptism, or transgresses the orders of the magistrates, or 
preaches against taxes, or teaches the community of goods, 
or usurps the priesthood, or holds unlawful assemblies, or 
sins against faith, shall he punished with death ... As for 
the simple people who have not preached, or administered 
baptism, but who were seduced to permit themselves to fre- 
quent the assemblies of the heretics, if they do not wish to 
renounce anabaptism, they shall be scourged, punished with 
perpetual exile, and even with deat\ if they return three 
times to the place whence they have been expelled." f Any 
* Epist. Spalatino. f Catron, p. 224, and Audin, p. 4G4. 



TEAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMENENT INNOVATOES. 293 

one who will take the trouble to examine the " Colonial 
Records of Massachusetts Bay," will observe that the Puri- 
tans adopted these atrocious decrees almost verbatim in their 
sanguinary persecutions of opposing sectaries. Further on 
we shall enter into details upon this subject. 

In writing to the Landgrave of Hesse respecting another 
innovator, Luther says : " Drive him away as an apostle of 
hell ; and if he does not flee, deliver him up as a seditious 
man to the executioner."* 

Among the scandalous acts of Luther was his seduction 
and marriage of Catherine de Bore, a nun of great beauty. 
At the age of forty-five, in the year 1525, he espoused the 
victim of his guilty passion. These acts of the self-styled 
Reformer were deeply deplored by Melancthon, and a major- 
ity of his more respectable friends, as licentious and disgrace- 
ful. They also diminished his influence greatly. 

"As to whether we may have several wives," says Lu- 
ther, "the authority of the patriarchs leaves us perfectly free. 
It is a thing neither permitted noi* prohibited, and I decide 
nothing thereupon." 

Alluding to these loose sentiments of Luther, Balmes 
very pertinently inquires : " What would now be the con- 
dition of Europe, what respect would women now enjoy, if 
Luther, the founder of Protestantism, had succeeded in in- 
spiring society with the indifierence which he shows on this 
point in his Commentary on Genesis ? . . . . European nations 
owe eternal gratitude to Catholicity, which has preserved 
monogamy for them, one of the causes which undoubtedly 
have contributed the most to the good organization of the 
family, and the exaltation of woman." f 

During his violent quarrel with Erasmus, his arrogance 
and vindictive malice were so great, that Melancthon v/as 
impelled to exclaim : " Would to God that Luther would 
keep silent ! I had hoped that age would have rendered him 
more mild ; but I see that he becomes more and more violent 

* Luth., Comment, in Psal. Ixxi., opp. Jen., tom. v., p. 147, apud Audin. 
•}• " Protestantism and Catholicism Compared," p. 138. 



294 CHKISTIANITY AND ITS COI^FLICTS. 

every day as he is pressed by his adversaries, and by the dis- 
j)utes in which he involves himself. .... These things tor- 
ment me, and if God does not interpose, the end of these dis- 
putes vrill be disastrous." Erasmus also " regretted that in 
his old age, he was obliged, in contending \nth Luther, to 
contend with a wild beast and a farious wolf." Melancthon 
declares that he was occasionally beaten by Luther during 
his ungovernable outbursts of passion. "I tremble," says 
Melancthon, " when I think of the passions of Luther ; they 
yield not in violence to the passions of Hercules." * 

About the year 1532 Luther published his book against 
private masses. In this book he declares that he had had 
several conferences with the devil ; and that the subject of 
private masses was a special topic of discussion. Up to this 
period he informs us that he had been a iirm believer in these 
masses, and had devoutly said them during his life. But 
the arguments of the prince of darkness changed his views, 
and he renounced his former opinions as useless and wicked, 
and incorporated this additional article of Protestantism in 
his new religion. When the devil appeared to him, he states 
that he was much frightened at his tremendous voice, his 
imperious manner, and his forcible arguments. His heart 
beat violently, he trembled, he perspired, but nevertheless 
held a respectable argument with his diabolical opponent. 
From this experience Luther expresses the opinion that the 
devil often appears to holy men toward morniog, and stran- 
gles them to death by his tremendous A^oice and still more 
tremendous arguments. He attributes the sudden deaths of 
(Ecolampadias and Emser to this cause. Is it not probable 
that all Luther's inspirations may have been derived from 
the same source ? 

As he advanced toward the end of his career, Luther's 
mental perversions became still more strongly marked. In 
his writings against the doctors of Louvain, and other 
opponents, as well as against his fellow-reformers, he rails 
like a lunatic, writes the most indecent calumnies and blas- 
* Melanc. Epis. ad Thes. 



TRAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMINENT INNOVATOES. 295 

phemies, plays the vulgar buffoon, and calls his adversaries 
by every vile name which can be found in the vocabulary of 
Billingsgate. On the 18th of February, a. d. 1546, Luther 
died. 

On strictly medical grounds, we claim that, up to the 
year 1517, the mind of Luther was healthy and sound, and 
that there was nothing morbid or irrational in his intellectual 
manifestations. It is conceded that he possessed a highly 
nervous and sanguine temperament, and an organization 
peculiarly sensitive, and therefore prone to become unduly 
excited and disordered. After 1517 we claim that an entire 
change occurred in the condition of his brain and of his 
mental faculties. We claim that his mind became perverted 
from over-excitement, and that a large part of his intellectual 
manifestations were the result of a morbidly excited brain — a 
condition which some writers term moral insanity^ and others 
religious monomania. As the exciting causes became more 
numerous and powerful, the cerebral malady increased, and 
the abnormal mental phenomena were all gradually aug- 
mented, until his most trusted friends, Avith deep sorrow, 
regarded him as a partially deranged man. A glance at the 
writings of Melancthon, Bucer, Zwinglius, (Ecolampadius, and 
Hospinian, will fully corroborate this assertion. 

In order to aid the reader in forming a just opinion 
respecting the changed mental condition of Luther, during 
his innovating career, we present here, the following excel- 
lent definition of insanity by an eminent medical writer. Dr. 
Winslow, and also the more common causes of mental 
derangement. Pinel, Connolly, Esquirol, Prichard, Brigham, 
and other standard writers on insanity, have given us similar 
definitions and similar tests. According to Dr. Winslow, 
'' the test of insanity in all cases should be the comparison of 
the mind of the alleged lunatic, at the period of suspected 
insanity, with its prior, natm^al, and healthy manifesta- 
tions." * And among the most common causes of insanity, 
according to all eminent writers upon the subject, are vio- 

* Lettsonian Lecture, 1S55. 



296 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

lent emotions ; religious enthusiasm ; disappointed ambition ; 
a vivid and unrestrained imagination ; exclusive and protract- 
ed thought upon a single subject ; over-exertion of the intel- 
lectual powers; mental trouble, perplexity, and doubt. 

^ If we compare Luther's mental condition prior to 1517, 
with what it became subsequently, the conclusion will be 
irresistible that he was a victim of religious monomania. 
While he was tranquilly pursuing his studies as a youth, and 
during the eleven years that he devotedly, and without am- 
bition, envy, or malice, fulfilled his monastic duties, he had 
no mental hallucinations, no conferences with Satan, he saw 
no spectres or fantastic ogres in human shape flitting before 
his brain, he was subject to no frenzied paroxysms of rage and 
ferocity, he never dreamed of blaspheming his Maker, or of 
corrupting the Sacred Writings, or of defying the authority 
of the Church, or of setting up a new human creed and a new 
man- worshipping religion ; but he was reasonable, moderate, 
temperate, devout, truthful and faithful in all things. In 
a word, he laas sane. His brain was healthy, and his intel- 
lectual faculties were normal. 

Now let us compare this healthy state of mind — " these 
natural and healthy mental manifestations"— with those of 
his subsequent life, and then apply to the two groups of 
phenomena the standard test of lunacy which we have cited. 
From an amiable, temperate, chaste, and devout man, he 
became violent, ferocious, intemperate, licentious, blasphe- 
mous, and sanguinary. From a firm, unwavering, and happy 
believer in the truths of the Church, he became a victim of 
innumerable doubts, changes, perplexities, and fierce tor- 
ments. From a condition of mental tranquillity and intellect- 
ual equilibrium, he lapsed into a state of maniacal excite- 
ment, with a very great perversion of all his intellectual 
powers and manifestations. As an innovator he habitually 
saw spectres, men with tails, horns, claws, features of ani- 
mals, and was pursued and tormented by these morbid 
fantasies. A volume of these abnormal mental manifesta- 
tions might be cited in support of our position, but we have 



TEAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMINEKT INNOVATOES. 297 

presented a sufficient number to enable tbe impartial reader 
to form a just conclusion respecting Luther's sanity or 
insanity. 

In this nineteenth century, if a man advances opinions 
which are eccentric, erratic, outre^ and subversive of facts 
and doctrines which are universally accepted, he is arraigned 
before the bar of public opinion, and his innovations and acts 
are subjected to the tests of reason, science, and logic. Novel 
ideas, vehement declamation, or the bitterest invective, are 
not regarded as truth, argument, or sound philosophy ; but 
stern facts and demonstrated truths are the only admitted 
witnesses in the intellectual courts of this practical century. 
Should a modern Luther appear, with his individual inno- 
vations against any of the established theories of the day, 
and claim that, through certain interviews and consultations 
with the Prince of Darkness, he had ascertained that the 
world was all wrong, and that he had come to set it right, 
and to present new articles of belief, the practical men of 
this day would undoubtedly shut him up in Bloomingdale, 
or in some similar institution, for medical and moral treat- 
ment. Such a man would indeed have some followers — for 
there is no hypothesis, however absurd, if it is novel^ and 
panders to passion and interest^ which will not attract dis- 
ciples — but its author would either be consigned to a mad- 
house, or public opinion would ridicule him into a speedy 
oblivion. 

If it be urged as an argument in favor of Luther's sanity 
during his innovating career, that he often displayed great 
intellectual powers and great eloquence, we respond that 
such displays are not at all uncommon in confirmed luna- 
tics. In real insanity we often see displays of astonishing 
intellectual efforts exhibited in a great many different as- 
pects ; but we more frequently see these displays in the ex- 
ercise of the imaginative than in the reasoning faculties. 
The dramatic poet Lee wrote the tragedy of N^ero, and 
several other plays, in the Bethlehem hospital for lunatics; 
and was, at times, excited to the fury of the wildest maniac. 
1 3^=^" 



298 CHEISTIANITY A2TD ITS CONFLICTS. 

And yet all his plays were acted witli applause before the 
same people who were only beginning to appreciate Shake- 
speare. Christopher Smart wrote his verses on the walls of 
his cell. Numerous examples of a similar character might 
be cited, and almost every insane hospital will afford one or 
more instances in point. 

Luther was the originator and the master-spirit of the 
Reformation, the father of modern Protestantism, the author 
of the modern innovations against the ancient Church, and 
the centre around which vast numbers of restless, worldly, 
and visionary men rallied in opposition to a religion and a 
Church which had been founded by Christ, and perpetuated 
from generation to generation up to his day. The hos- 
tility of these adversaries amounted almost to frenzy : each 
follower seemed to imbibe some portion of the spirit and the 
reckless extravagance of their insane master ; the poison of 
mad fanaticism seemed to contaminate the entire sect, en- 
gendering hatred, thirst for vengeance and blood, and a kind 
of epidemic religious monomania. The absurdity and wick- 
edness of Luther's innovations will be readily appreciated 
when we remember his continual, abrupt, and radical changes 
of opinion, and that nearly all his first innovations perished 
before his own death ! His original articles of faith and his 
original creed, which enticed so many deluded followers 
from the ancient faith, are now among the things of the 
past; though their sad fruits may still be observed in the 
innumerable conflicting sects, in the religious distractions 
and hatreds, in the wide-spread infidelity, and in the bloody 
religious wars which have decimated and cursed the world 
during the past three hundred years. 

We have already seen that envy was the primary ex- 
citing cause of Luthel-'s defection from the Church. "^This 
evil emotion developed anger, and called forth, in the first 
instance, words of denunciation against a rival Dominican 
brother. When the attacked party retorted, new germs of 
evil sprang up within his breast— hatred, resentment, pride, 
ambition, love of .notoriety. Gradually these evil passions 



TEAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMIKENT IKNOVATOES. 299 

led liim on, at times dominating over him absolutely, again 
struggling with him, until almost overcome by his better 
nature, his conscientious convictions, his positive knowledge 
of the truth. These violent emotions, these conflicting pas- 
sions, the encouragement and applause of wicked men, and 
the glittering and carnal temptations of the world, were too 
much for the inflammable nature of the poor monk, and fiends 
revelled where angels once had dwelt. Unfortunate gentle- 
man ! Victim of a terrible mental affliction, the manifesta- 
tions of which pandered to the vilest passions of his fellow- 
creatures, and inculcated the lawfulness of opinions and prac- 
tices in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ, His apos- 
tles, and the Church. The corrupt and licentious men of 
Germany, and of other countries, eagerly adopted the ac- 
commodating views and religion of this unfortunate lunatic, 
because it afibrded them a pretext to continue in their sinful 
ways. Melancthon truly remarked to his poor mother, when 
on her death-bed, "that the new religion was a convenient 
one, if not a secure one." 

Had the Wittenberg of Luther's day been blessed with 
one of those beneficent sanitary institutions which may now 
be found in all parts of Europe and Korth America, the de- 
ranged mind^of the afflicted monk might have been restored 
to its original sanity, and the world have been rescued from 
the schisms, the religious contentions, the distractions, enmi- 
ties, wars, and divisions which now scandalize the Christian 
name. Could this poor, brain-stricken, and originally pious 
and humble Christian, have been placed under the wholesome 
restraints and the moral and medical treatment of a first- 
class insane hospital, at the outset of his malady, in all 
human probability he would have recovered, and again 
graced the Augustinian monastery as a humble, moral, 
chaste, temperate, devout, and scrupulous monk. 

N'early every one of the prominent contemporary Re- 
formers, including Bucer, Melancthon, Calvin, Capiton, and 
Mycon, acknowledged these evil traits of Luther, and depre- 
cated the sad results vfhich they foresaw must spring from 



300 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

them. These more cautious innovators attempted to arrest, 
or, at least to modify the insane extravagances of their 
leader, but in vain. Referring to these extravagances and 
their results, My con truly observed, " that princes now order 
the mode of communion, and magistrates have converted 
themselves into popes." Melancthon eventually became so 
disgusted with the ravings and the dictatorial tyrannies of 
Luther, that, on one occasion, at Munster, he declared, " that 
there were two popes, one of them at Rome, and the other 
one Luther, and that the latter was the worst of the two." 
Zwinglius, Calvin, and others often designated him as " the 
new pope." 

MelanctJion, 

Melancthon was naturally truthful, pious, sincere, and 
earnestly desirous of doing his whole duty to his God and to 
his fellow-men ; but he was ardent, enthusiastic, credulous, 
and easily influenced by eloquence, novel sophistries, and by 
his personal associations and friendships. Having heard 
Luther in his heyday of popularity and povf er, having lis- 
tened to his vehement, but eloquent harangues, his oracular 
denunciations of Catholicism, and his equally oracular 
announcement of his innovating theological hj^potheses, he 
was attracted and fascinated by them, and finally became an 
unwilling victim during his whole life, to these sad allure- 
ments and devices of the Prince of Evil. Often when the 
mad ravings, the vulgar revilings, and the impious and 
obscene vituperations of Luther against all who opposed his 
despotic will, threatened to consign their author to the con- 
straints of a prison, the gentle Melancthon trembled with 
doubts and apprehensions as to the source of these furious 
and vindictive sentiments. And often, during these trying 
scenes, did his soul revert to that blessed religion of his child- 
hood, for consolation and hope. Amid the frenzied rhap- 
sodies and the bitter and calumnious railings of the eloquent 
protester against a religion which had been the only true 
light of the world for more than fifteen centuries, did the 



TEAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMINEKT INNOVATOES. 301 

candid spirit of Melancthon often reflect that the devil was 
one of Luther's prompters and counsellors. In his letters to 
his intimate friend, Camerarius, he gave expression to these 
douhts and fears ; but the explanations and apologies of par- 
tisan friends prevailed in the end, and kept him until death 
within the confines of Protestantism, but always doubting, 
wavering, and trembling, at the terrible responsibility he 
had assumed. Among those who aided in sustaining him in 
the delusions of Luther was Erasmus, who declared that the 
world had become so obstinate and hardened in its opinions, 
that a rude, dictatorial, and crazy mind like that of Luther, 
was necessary, in order to revolutionize the religious opinions 
of men. What an admission respecting the universality and 
firmness of the religious faith of the period! What a com- 
mentary on an innovation which was destined to divide and 
distract the Church, disturb its unity, and fill the world with 
schismatics, rationalists, and atheists ! 

Melancthon believed in dreams, visions, astrology, pro- 
phecies, and that all unusual terrestrial and celestial phe- 
nomena were solemn warnings from Heaven of coming events, 
and regulated his life in accordance with this fantastic 
hypothesis. He often cautioned his friends, Camerarius 
and Osiander, to give heed to these wonderful phenomena 
which were constantly occurring. The birth of a calf with 
two heads, or other lusus naturce^ or the overflow of the 
Tiber, in his estimation, were important occurrences, and 
portended great changes in the world, especially the down- 
fall of popery and the destruction of Rome. He was in the 
habit also of consulting the stars with reference to himself, 
his family, and to the progress of events, and shaped his 
conduct upon these astrological data. He also believed in 
and was influenced by the visions and prophecies of other 
visionary men. 

During his last years, Melancthon sufiered continually 
from his own doubts, and from the clashing and ever-chan- 
ging opinions of the self-styled Reformers. Each one had his 
own peculiar views upon the various doctrinal points, each 



302 CIIEiSTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

one differed from the other, so that every thing like unity, 
harmony, and stability of sentiment, was out of the question. 
Suffering from the terrors and apprehensions which such a 
mental condition of necessity produced, Melancthon died in 
1560. 

If Melancthon had lived at this day, he would have been 
a Spiritualist,^ a holder of ghostly " circles," an abetter and 
defender of " mediums," and an habitual communicator and 
converser with departed spirits. He would have been a 
formidable rival of Andrew Jackson Davis in his reformatory 
enterprises. 

At the Diet of Augsburg, held in 1530, several innova- 
tors presented for acceptance their own private articles of 
faith. Among them were Bucer, Melancthon, and Zwinglius. 
Each confession of faith comprised the private views of its 
author; each one was at variance with the other; and each 
had its array of zealous advocates. A majority of the diet 
were in favor of that of Melancthon, and it was accordingly 
adopted. This majority of ignorant, fanatical, and materi- 
alistic Teutons, with marvellous penetration, made the 
momentous discovery that all the great councils of the 
Church, with their thousands of the most learned, talented, 
and holy men which fifteen centuries had produced, had all 
been mistaken in their interpretations of the Scriptures, and 
that this Augsburg assembly had been brought into exist- 
ence to rearrange and reestablish Christianity! Men like 
SS. Polycarp, Clement, and Ignatius, who had received their 
instructions directly from the lips of Christ and His inspired 
apostles, and the thousands of holy fathers who alone had 
transmitted the Christian religion through the early and 
middle ages of the Christian era, were scoflFed at and ignored 
by this handful of dissenting Germans at Augsburg, and a 
new confession of faith, a new religion by one of their own 
number, was adopted ! 

Melancthon was not insane, but he was a visionary enthu- 
siast. He was learned, talented, amiable, and conscientious, 
but he was lacking in judgment, stability, and mental dis- 



TRAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMmEJsfT mNOVATOES. 303 

cipline. He was sincere in his religions convictions, but 
constitutionally and morbidly credulous, visionary, and 
erratic. If circumstances had made him a man of business 
instead of a theologian, his visionary tendencies, his credulity^ 
his love of novelty and change, his speculative turn, and his 
general instability would have involved himself and his 
business connections in certain financial ruin. As a states- 
man his peculiar qualities would have plunged his adminis- 
tration and his country into innumerable embarrassments and 
disasters. As a theologian and an innovator, he was always 
wavering, and changeable, but readily controlled, for good or 
evil, by those around him. In whatever position he might 
have been placed, he would have been regarded as an amia- 
ble and genial man, but he never could have inspired con- 
fidence in his judgment, his competency, or his reliability. 
He was true and ardent in his attachments, and was inclined 
to sympathize deeply, and to assimilate closely with liis 
trusted friends in all things moral, intellectual, religious, and 
personal. His heart was open, generous, and confiding, and 
thus he became a victim to the strong will of the insane 
Luther. 

Calvin. 

John Calvin was born in Noyon, France, a. d. 1509, and 
died at Geneva, in Switzerland, in 1564. With many other 
French refugees, he sought a home in Geneva shortly after 
Farel and Froment had introduced their new innovations. 
Judging from the accounts of contemporary historians, Cal- 
vin must have been a perfect type of the Puritan. He was 
of medium height, lean, sharp-visaged, cadaverous, thin- 
lipped ; his eyes were bright, but restless and sinister in 
their expression ; his head was large, and indicative of un- 
usual intelligence ; his countenance was cold, stern, and un- 
sympathetic ; and his religious declamations were character- 
ized by the canting nasal twang which is peculiar to all Pu- 
ritans. Every lineament of his sallow and angular counte- 
nance, every movement of his skeleton frame, every gesture 



304 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

of his bony arms and hands, and every word fi'om his thin, 
blue lips left an indescribable and indelible impression upon 
his auditors. He was learned, eloquent, classical, and pol- 
ished as a writer, but human sympathy, benevolence, charity, 
and the finer emotions, had no place in his breast. He could 
thank his God with as much indifference for damning the 
predestinated victims of His causeless wrath as for saving 
the elected favorites of His equally causeless mercy. Like 
the fatalistic Mohammedan, he regarded men as passive and 
helpless victims of a fore-ordained and fixed decree of the 
Almighty. He was heartless, vindictive, cruel, and sangui- 
nary; as his unrelenting persecutions of his controversial 
adversaries, and his execution of Servetus and Gruet clearly 
demonstrate. Another illustration of his sanguinary and 
cruel disposition may be found in the active part he took in 
urging forward the bloody civil wars of the period. " Cal- 
vin," said Bucer, " is a true mad-dog. The man is wicked, 
and he judges of people according as he loves or hates them." 
Baudoin declared " that he could not endure Calvin, because 
he had found him too thirsty for vengeance and blood." In 
a letter to his friend, the Marquis du Poet, respecting the 
Anabaptists and other new sectaries, Calvin declares " that 
such monsters ought to be suffocated, after the manner of 
Servetus and Gruet." 

Calvin taught that the children of the faithful are born 
in grace and alliance with God, and that they must be saved, 
with or without baptism, with or without good acts. He 
taught that whoever has received the Holy Spirit once is 
fully justified, and can never lose it, or fall from grace. Once 
the recipient of grace, the predestinated mortal must of ne- 
cessity be saved, though all the imps of darkness afterward 
possess him and govern him through life. He was, however, 
continually changing his arbitrary dogmas. He had one 
confession of faith for Switzerland, another for Germany, 
and a still different one for France. In almost every succes- 
sive communication he expresses dissatisfaction with the 
views he had previously advanced, and continually suggested 



TRAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMINENT INNOVATOES. 305 

alterations and modifications. Ambitious, vain, boastful, 
and imperious, he did not hesitate to alter and adapt his 
doctrines to the peculiarities and j)rejudices of the various 
nations of Europe. His main object was to secure prose- 
lytes, and to extend his own reputation, not to serve his God 
and his fellow-men. His invectives were directed not only 
against Catholics, but against all who presumed to differ 
with him. Even Luther and Zwinglius did not escape his 
bitter taunts and irony. 

Were an impartial biographer to sum up the characteris- 
tic traits of the three prominent innovators of the sixteenth 
century, Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin, he would present 
to us three widely different characters. In Luther he would 
portray a man of fine native talents, and of good natural in- 
stincts, feelings, and tendencies, a fair scholar, but of strong 
passions, great ambition, and love of admiration, and a brain 
and nervous system in the highest degree excitable and sen- 
sitive. He would trace his modest and blameless career as 
a monk of the convent of Erfurth, and commend him for his 
unaffected piety and devotion to his duties. He would fol- 
low him to his new and strange arena of controversy and 
strife, analyze his ferocious and obscene tirades against friend 
and foe, hold him up to the gaze of the world as an habitual 
believer in and seer of fantastic visions, spectres, and fiends, 
a debater with Satan, as well as w^ith mundane adversaries, 
a breaker of solemn vows, a wine-bibber, a vindictive and 
unscrupulous opponent, and an inciter of civil wars and 
bloodshed. A candid biographer of this era would deplore 
the manifest transformation which occurred in Luther's 
mind, and express sympathy for the unfortunate lunatic and 
his relatives and friends. As a reliable relator of facts, he 
would be compelled to depict the sound and healthy mental 
manifestations of Martin Luther as a happy, amiable, and 
peaceful Augustinian monk, and to contrast them with the 
abnormal and perverted intellectual and moral traits which 
pertained to him during the entire period of his continually 
varying innovations. 



306 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

He would represent Melancthon as a noble, warm-hearted, 
and pious Christian, a ripe scholar, an ardent friend, but en- 
thusiastic, credulous, visionary, fond of novelty, and so con- 
stituted as to be readily blown about by every wind of doc- 
trine, and dominated over by wicked and designing men. 

In Calvin he would present us with a perfect type of 
cold-hearted selfishness, cruelty, cunning, and canting hypoc- 
risy, He would make known to us his thrilling powers of 
eloquence, his high classical attainments, his polished diction, 
and his snake-like fascination over his rapt audiences. At 
the same time he would tell us of his terrible blasphemies 
against his Maker, and of his atrocious Puritan doctrines. 
He would bring before us a man who had the impious temer- 
ity to declare God the author and creator of all the sins, 
crimes, and calamities of the world, and that men are merely 
passive and impotent instruments in His hands. He would 
place before us a heart of stone — cold, unsympathetic, im- 
passible, Satanic. He would not depict Calvin as an in- 
sane man, but as one consummately talented, selfish, heart- 
less, and unscrupulous. He would display to us a perfect 
type of the Puritan, The theological tenets of this man 
have exercised a dominant influence over nearly all of the 
Protestant sects of the world down to the present time. 

Ilinor Innovators. 

Many volumes would be required to present in detail the 
personal traits and characteristics of the horde of Reformers 
who have appeared since Luther's day. Their name is legion, 
and they have deluged the world with their novelties, their 
private creeds, and their individual religions. In the forma- 
tion and establishment of these strange innovations, nearly 
all the passions and emotions of the human heart have been 
evoked, and have exercised their influence. A very cursory ex- 
amination of the various and conflicting sects will show that 
the personal idiosyncrasies and the mental and moral pecu- 
liarities of each sectarian creed-coiner have been incorporated 
into the sect which bears his name, or which owes to him its 



TRx\lTS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMINENT m^OVATOES. 307 

paternity. Some of these innovators have been actuated by- 
ambition and thirst for notoriety, some by self-interest, some 
by novelty and'change, some by hatred of rival sects, some 
by lust, some by covetousness, some by religious fanaticism, 
and many by an abnormal condition of the mental faculties. 
Types of all these different classes may be found even in the 
sixteenth century — in Zwinglius, Stork, Bucer, Munzer, John 
of Leyden, Mathias Harlem, Karlstadt, Hermann, David 
George, Farel, Froment, QEcolampadius, Knox, Cranmer, Hen- 
ry YHL, and others. We shall very briefly allude to a few of 
the creed-mongers who were contemporaneous with Luther 
and Calvin, and reserve our account of the more modern inno- 
vators for a future chapter. 

Among the personal friends and abetters of Luther was 
Martin Bucer. He abounded in subtleties, novelties, and 
doctrinal contradictions. He was the author of the Stras- 
burg Confession of Faith. He taught that Christ could not 
be actually present in the eucharist because He is in heaven 
and can only be in one place at a time. How materialistic 
and mundane are these ideas of Bucer and the other Keform- 
ers ! How impious the assertion that the Omnipotent and 
Almighty God can only be present in one place at the same 
time ! The idea of limiting the capacities and powers of the 
Infinite to mundane objects — to time, space, or other appli- 
ance of this material and momentary work of His hands ! It 
is through the influence of such sentiments as those of Bacer 
and his contemporary innovators, that materialism became de- 
veloped, and made such progress in the sixteenth and subse- 
quent centuries. Wherever the doctrines of these men have 
obtained a foothold, rationalism with all its Protean mani- 
festations has flourished. Whenever and wherever men have 
attempted to comprehend, circumscribe, bound, and explain 
the attributes and the omnipotent powers of God, we find 
innumerable sects founded on rationalism, pantheism, spirit- 
ualism, and atheism. Bucer was talented, but ambitious, 
fickle, and devoted to novelties. In conjunction with Luther 
and Melancthon, he signed the document allowing Philip to 



808 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

have two wives at the same time. Bucer himself was mar- 
ried three times. ' 

Karlstadt ranks among the most radical and reckless of 
the innovators of Luther's day. This bold man, once a priest 
of the Chnrch, had the temerity to overthrow the sacred em- 
blems of the churches of Wittenberg, and to prevent, by 
threats and violence, the celebration of mass and the eleva- 
tion of the Host. He was one of the first priests who violated 
his sacred oath by marrying a wife. His arrogance, intem- 
perance, licentiousness, and blasphemy, so disgusted the 
people of Wittenberg that they expelled him from the city. 
After this he joined the Anabaptists. 

But few men were more active in stirring up discontent, 
fraternal hatred, and strife among his countrymen than 
Zwinglius, and but few were as cruel and unrelenting in the 
pursuit of vengeance. In 1524, according to Menzel,* he 
caused a number of Anabaptists to be taken, enclosed in 
sacks, and then cast into the Rhine to be drowned, Avhile his 
pious disciples looked on, and with jeers and taunts assured 
them that they were only subjecting them to their own fa- 
vorite mode of immersion. After the Diet of Augsburg, 
when the Protestants had formed leagues in order to propa- 
gate their doctrines, and had resolved to resort to arms to 
carry their points, Zwinglius waB the leading spirit in this 
coercive policy from the first. He not only advocated these 
sanguinary proceedings in his sermons, harangues, and wri- 
tings, but he actually entered the bloody battle-field in deadly 
strife, urging on canton against canton, brother against 
brother, until he was killed sword in hand. Was such a man 
a follower and disciple of the Prince of Peace ? Was such 
a man in reality a Reformer? 

In 1516 Zwinglius introduced Protestantism into Zurich 
by force and fraud. Eight years afterward he forced his inno- 
vations upon the people of Berne. In 1535 he extended his 
religious conquests to Geneva. In these revolutionary and 
sanguinary acts he was efiiciently aided by the fanatical and 

* Menzel's " Hist, of Germany," vol. ii., p. 233. 



TEAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMINENT mNOYATOES. 309 

cruel Farel. Through the intrigues of this malignant parti- 
san with the people of Berne, they enrolled themselves into 
an army, and led on by Zwinglius and Farel, they entered 
Geneva in 1536 and inculcated their innovations at the point 
of the bayonet. Soon after, the same ploics army invaded 
the canton of Yaud, and beat their religion into many of the 
poor people of this canton. The notorious Froraent aided 
and abetted Zwinglius and Farel in these frightful outrages. 
The mad pranks of the ferocious Anabaptists of Munster 
and Leyden, under the leadership of Mathias Harlem and 
John of Leyden, shocked all Europe for a time. These men 
were unquestionably insane, as their absurd doctrines and 
their actions all demonstrate. The fact that they were 
able to secure crowds of devoted disciples and followers, and 
retain them in absolute subjection for more than sixteen 
months, proves that entire communities as well as individ- 
uals, may become deranged, and that there is such a malady 
as epidemic communal insanity. It affords an additional 
proof of the facility with which pretended Reformers, like 
Luther, Harlem, and the tailor of Leyden, can procure con- 
verts and followers, and establish new creeds, new sects, and 
new religions. These Munster and Leyden Reformers inaugu- 
rated their pious reformations by sacking Catholic churches, 
destroying their ornaments and books, seizing upon the prop- 
erty of the inhabitants for a common fand, and by attempt- 
ing with a handful of men to exterminate with the sword 
those who were so presumptuous as to oppose them. The tailor 
of Leyden " ran naked through the streets of Munster^'' cry- 
ing, " Behold, the King of Sion comes ! " This poor lunatic 
declared to his infatuated dupes that the Lord had decreed 
that he should be crowned King of Sion ; and on the 24th 
of June, 1534, he was actually proclaimed king, and solemnly 
crowned in the market-place, amidst the fanatical rejoicings 
of a large crowd of partisans and followers. He made his 
wife queen, but reserved to himself the holy and patriarchal 
riojht of havino' seventeen additional wives. He did not limit 
his polygamous views to two wives, as did Philip of Hesse, 



310 CHEISTIAHITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

under permission of his spiritual advisers, Luther, Melanc- 
thon, and Bucer, but he adopted literally the theory and 
practice of the ancient patriarchs. This very progressive 
Reformer reigned for more than sixteen months, during which 
the most atrocious crimes of every description were perpe- 
trated under the direction of himself and his converts. The 
ruling ideas of this man were to slay all those who opposed 
him, and to establish himself and his creed over all the world. 
N'o man of the present day will deny that John of Leyden 
was insane. All admit the vast influence which this danger- 
ous lunatic acquired and held for sixteen months, over great 
numbers of the people of Munster, Leyden, and the surround- 
ing country. Do not these astounding facts demonstrate 
the dangerous character and tendencies of the innovations 
of the period, as well as the inflammable and unreliable nature 
of the material upon which the Reformers acted ? 

David George declared himself the true son of God, that 
his doctrines alone were perfect, and that the Old and l!^ew 
Testaments were wrong. At this day, a man possessed of 
such ideas would be confined in a mad-house as an irrespon- 
sible lunatic. Yet the pretensions of this Reformer were but 
little more extravagant than those of Luther ; and if David 
denied the authenticity of all the Sacred Writings, his contem- 
porary innovator, Martin, had already repudiated a portion 
of them. 

At about the same period there was a counterpart of 
David in London by the name of Hackett. This person 
claimed that the Spirit of the Messiah had descended upon 
himself, and that he was endowed with supernatural pow- 
ers. Lie likewise had his converts and followers, who under 
his direction perpetrated the most fanatical and sacrilegious 
enormities in the streets of London. Like Hermann and John 
of Leyden, he advocated the massacre of all opponents, es- 
pecially all priests and magistrates. 

The Anabaptist, Nicholas Stork, another contemporary of 
Luther, " surrounded himself with twelve apostles and sev- 
enty-two disciples, and boasted that he received revelations 



TRAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMINENT mNOVATOES. 311 

from an angel." * The following is a specimen of one of his 
sermons : " Behold what I announce to you. God has sent 
His angel to me during the night, to tell me that I shall sit 
on the same throne as the archangel Gabriel. Let the impi- 
ous tremble, and the just hope. ... It is to me. Stork, that 
Pleaven has promised the empire of the world. Would you 
desire to be visited by God ? Prej)are your hearts to receive 
the Holy Spirit. Let there be no pulpit whence to announce 
the word of God : no priests, no preachers, no exterior wor- 
ship : let your dress be plain ; your food, bread and salt ; and 
God will descend upon you." f He taught that it was good 
to commit sin, in order that grace might abound. 

Another Anabaptist preacher, Munzer, combined the most 
ultra agrarianism with his religious innovations. 

Even Karlstadt, the intimate friend and disciple of Lu- 
ther, was afflicted with a kind of moral insanity, and any 
medical expert who will take the trouble to review his career, 
will arrive at this conclusion. He was in the habit of run- 
ning through the streets of Wittenberg, Bible in hand, and 
stopping the passers-by to inquire of them the signification 
of difficult passages of the Sacred Book. He claimed that 
this was an obligatory duty, because it is written "that the 
voice of truth shall be heard from the lips of infants." J 

Similar instances of religious insanity and fanaticism 
have not unfrequently occurred since the days of Christ. A 
notable example of this kind occurred in the twelfth century. 
" At the beginning of the twelfth century," says Balmes, 
" we find the famous Tanch^me, or Tanquelin, teaching the 
maddest theories and committing the greatest crimes; yet 
at Antwerp, in Zealand, in the country of Utrecht, and in 
many other towns in the same countries, he draws after him 
a numerous crowd. This wretched man maintained that he 
was more worthy of supreme worship than Jesus Christ 
Himself, ' for,' said he, 'if Jesus Christ had received the Holy 
Spirit, he (Tancheme) had received the plenitude of that 

* Menzers "Hist, of Germany," vol. il, pp. 232, 233. f Audin, p. 230. 
|. MesliOTuis, p. 4. 



312 CHEISTIANITY AKD ITS CONFLICTS. 

Holy Spirit.' He added that the whole Church was confined 
in his own person and in his disciples. The pontificate, the 
episcopate, and the priesthood, were, according to him, mere 
chimeras. His instructions and discourses were particularly 
addressed to women ; the result of his doctrines and pro- 
ceedings was the most revolting corruption. Yet the fanati- 
cism which was excited by this abominable man, went so far 
that the sick eagerly drank the water in which he bathed, 
believing it to be the most salutary remedy for body and 
soul. Women thought themselves happy to have obtained 
the favor of the monster; mothers considered it an honor i 
for their daughters to be selected as the victims of his 
profligacy ; and husbands were ofiended when their wives 
w^ere not stained with this disgrace." * On one occasion he 
touched a picture of the Virgin, and declared that he had con- 
tracted marriage with the Queen of Heaven, and he command- 
ed his dupes to fill two boxes which he had brought, with 
wedding presents. His hearers robbed themselves of their 
jewels and other valuables to fill these boxes. Finally, he sur- 
roimded himself with an armed troop of three thousand men, 
and in regal garments moved from place to place with his 
body-guard, preaching his atrocious doctrines and robbing 
the people of their honor and their wealth. This man was 
either a great knave or a madman. In this same century also 
lived Eon, who asserted " that he himself was the Judge of 
the living and the dead ; " likewise Arnaud of Brescia, Bierre 
de Bruis, Henri, the Cathari, Vaudois, Paterius of Arras, the 
Albigenses, and the poor men of Lyons. The fruits of these 
different fanatical innovations were disastrous in the highest 
degree. Their presence was everywhere manifested by fire, 
rapine, and bloodshed. 

We have alluded to the case of Tanquelin as a type of 
thousands of similar instances which might be adduced be- 
fore the sixteenth century. We have not space to present in 
detail the numerous innovations which were introduced 
during the early and middle ages ; but an examination of 

* " Catholicism and Protestantism Compared," p. 250. 



TEAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMmENT mNOVATOES. 313 

tliem will show that the authors of them, as well as the 
causes, motives, and results, were similar to those of the six- 
teenth century. 

Among the innovators out of Germany, who contributed 
materially to sow dissensions among Christians, and to impair 
the unity of the Church during Luther's day, were Henry 
VIII. and his subservient archbishop Cranmer. As a king, 
Henry was imperious, arbitrary, and dictatorial, but earnestly 
solicitous for the welfare and glory of England. As a man, 
he was supremely selfish, conceited, vain, ambitious, sensual, 
irate, and unscrupulous. His dominant characteristic was 
gross sensuality, and he rendered every thing else subser- 
vient to this passion. Honor, principle, and conscience were 
all trodden under foot when they stood in the way of his 
sensual gratifications. In his heart of hearts, Henry was a 
thorough Roman Catholic ; and the facts are conclusive that 
he lived and died in this faith, although holding it secretly, 
and notwithstanding his pretended reformations, and his im.- 
pious assumptions of supreme spiritual powers. He doubt- 
less hoped and expected to bend the Roman pontiff to his 
indomitable will, to force from him a dispensation for a 
divorce from his lawful wife, and to return to the bosom of 
the Church. But step by step he became more and more 
involved in the toils of the evil one ; day by day the fever of 
passion increased, until, with a seared conscience and a volcano 
of unholy and raging desires, and pangs of remorse within 
his breast, he was called to the bar of the King of kings, to 
render a final account of the fearful responsibilities he had 
taken upon himself. 

Henry never dreamed of dissenting from or of altering 
any of the doctrines of the Church until after his lustful in- 
trigue with Anne Boleyn. He had become weary of Catharine 
of Aragon, and his beautiful mistress monopolized alh of his 
thoughts, and called into full activity the burning fires with- 
in him. In Cranmer, Thomas Cromwell, and Anne herself, 
he had willing and not over-scrupulous auxiliaries. Each 
one exercised a potent although a different kind of iiitlnence 
14 



314 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

over the susceptible and impetuous monarch, and each one 
was actuated bj base personal motives. Ambition, self-love, 
pride, resentment, and his dominant sensual propensities were 
all in turn played upon by the bishop, the lawyer, and the 
mistress, and their united efforts were successful in diverting 
an impulsive king from his conscientious convictions of 
religious truth, and in aiding to impair the unity of the 
Church of God. 

Had Pope Clement consented to Henry's divorce with 
Catharine, or, if Anne Boleyn had never lived, there never 
would have been an Anglican Church. Whatever may be 
thought or said of this Church as it now exists, the fact is 
none the less true that Henry VHI. is its originator and 
founder, that the impelling motives were those which we 
have indicated, that its chief manipulator and doctrine-mon- 
ger was Cranmer, and that its great perpetuator was Queen 
Elizabeth. 

To those Anglicans who are disposed to trace the origin 
of their Church beyond the time of Henry YIII., and to claim 
for it antiquity, an apostolic succession, or an historical past, 
we beg to refer them to the following observations of one of 
their own most distinguished writers and historians. Lord 
Macaulay. In these few lines the writer condenses the 
origin and the early progress of the Anglican Church, and 
demonstrates conclusively that it is of human and not of 
divine origin. We quote : " Henry YHI. attempted to con- 
stitute an Anglican Church differing from the Roman Catholic 
Church on the point of the supremacy, and on that point 
alone. His success in this attempt was extraordinary. The 
force of his character, the singularly favorable situation in 
which he stood with respect to foreign powers, the immense 
wealth which the spoliation of the abbeys placed at his dis- 
posal, and the support of that class which still halted be- 
tween two opinions, enabled him to bid defiance to both of 
the extreme parties, to burn as heretics those who avowed 
the tenets of the Reformers, and to hang as traitors those 
who owned the authority of the j^ope. But Henry's system 



TEAITS OF A FEW OF THE PROMINENT INNOVATOES. 315 

died witli him ISTor could Elizabeth venture to return 

to it. It was necessary to make a choice. The goyernment 
must either submit to Rome, or must obtain the aid of the 
Protestants. The government and the Protestants had only 

one thing in common, hatred of the papal power But, 

as the government needed the support of the Protestants, so 
the Protestants needed the protection of the government. 
Much was therefore given up on both sides ; a union Avas 
effected ; and the fruit of that union loas the Church of 
England. .... The man who took the chief part in settling 
the conditions of the alliance lohich produced the Anglican 
Church, was Thomas Cranmer Saintly in his profes- 
sions, unscrupulous in his dealings, zealous for nothing, bold 
in speculation, a coward and a time-server in action, a 
placable enemy and a lukewarm friend, he was in every way 
qualified to arrange the terms of coalition between the reli- 
gious and the worldly enemies of popery. To this day, the 
constitution, the doctrines, and the services of the Church 
(of England), retain the visible marks of the compromise 
from which she sprang." * 

The licentious propensities of a bold and unscrupulous 
king, in denying the papal supremacy, and in constituting 
himself supreme spiritual as well as temporal head of his 
dominions, originated the Church of England. Covetousness 
also had a share in the wicked innovations, for, as Macaulay 
truly observes, "the immense wealth which the spoliation of 
the abbeys placed at his disposal," enabled him to fill his 
coffers with Catholic gold. 

Cranmer was undoubtedly Henry's creed-coiner, and the 
master-spirit of the Anglican Reformation. Although he 
was secretly a Lutheran, as Burnet and other Protestant 
writers testify, yet he gave direction to the entire Anglican 
movement, and was the chief prompter of both Henry and 
Elizabeth. In all things Cranmer pandered to the passions 
and prejudices of Henry, while hypocritically plotting Ojgainst 
the ancient Church, and striving to introduce insidiously and 

* "History of England," vol. i., pp. 38, 39, 



316 CHEI3TIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

gradually Lutheranism. From the first he was aided and 
abetted by the lascivious Anne, who was intriguing to be 
queen, and the Puritanical Lutherans of England. 

After Cranmer had been sent to Kome by Henry, in order 
to induce Pope Clement VII. to grant the desired divorce, 
and had failed in accomplishing the object, he went to Ger- 
many, and while there was compelled to marry the sister of 
O slander, Avhom he had basely seduced. During his sojourn 
in Germany, in 1533, Henry appointed hira Archbishop of 
Canterbury. He accepted the position, and was consecrated, 
with professions of submission to the pope, with oaths of 
fidelity, and other ceremonies customary in the consecration 
of Roman Catholic bishops. The hypocrisy and treachery 
of this bad man was thus most sacrilegiously manifested. 
From this time forward Cranmer was untiring in the accom- 
plishment of his own ambitious purposes. His intrigues 
with the Parliament, the people, Henry, and Anne, were un- 
remitting. 

Through these machinations of Cranmer, Henry was in- 
duced to carry his violation of the laws of God and man to 
such a pitch that the Bishop of Rome was forced to excom- 
municate him. This act aroused all the bad passions of 
Henry to the highest point. His principal traits were lust, 
pride, ambition, and irascibility. Finding himself cut off 
from the Church, his anger knew no bounds, and he speedily ' 
declared himself " the supreme spiritual head of the Church i 
of England under Jesus Christ." He required his Parliament 
to pass laws sanctioning this sacrilegious usurpation, and his 
clergy and people to acknowledge his wicked pretensions, , 
under the most severe penalties. Ancient and extinct feudal 
laws and statutes, like those of '' prcemimire,^'' were dragged 
from the dust of centuries and set up as the law of the land, 
for the purpose of coercing the Anglican clergy into submis- 
sion. On the one hand the unfortunate people of England 
behel^ the dungeon, the rack, confiscation of property, and 
the fagot or the gibbet, while on the other were apostasy, 
recognition of an adulterous king as spiritual head of tlieir 



I 



TRAITS OF A FEW OF THE PEOMENENT INNOVATOES. 317 

Church, and, perhaps, royal favors. The persecutions and 
savage punishments by death of Chancellor More, Bishop 
Fisher, and numerous other faithful men, attest the ferocity 
with which Henry carried out his infamous designs against 
the Church of God. 

There were numerous other innovators, in various parts 
of Europe, who were contemporaneous with Luther and Cal- 
vin, and who exercised more or less influence over the 
rationalistic and disaffected element, particularly of Ger- 
many, Switzerland, France, and England, but we have not 
space to notice them in this work. We have presented the 
doctrines and personal traits of a sufficient number to enable 
the candid inquirer to form a judgment respecting the char- 
acter and tendencies of these doctrines, and the motives 
which have impelled each one of their originators. Were 
we to attempt a classification of the innovators of the six- 
teenth century from a medical stand-point, it would be as 
follows: 

Yictims of Meligious Monomania, 
Martin Luther, Nicholas Stork, 

Mathias Harlem, John of Leyden, 

David George, Hermann, 

Hackett, Munzer. 

Yictims of Morbid Credulity and of Moral Insanity, 
Melancthon, Karlstadt, 

Bucer, Zwinglius, 

CEcolampadius. 

Innovators who icere actuated hy Personal Ambition and 
Heartless, Cynicism. 
Calvin, Cranmer, 

Froment, Farel. 

Yictims of Vnbridled Lust and Self-indulgence. 
Henry VHL, Ulric Hutten. 



318 CHEISTIANITY AKD ITS CONFLICTS. 

From the most reliable sources, nearly all of them Prot- 
estant, we have gleaned the characteristic personal traits 
and the motives of the leading innovators of the sixteenth 
century, with a view of displaying clearly the primary im- 
pelling agencies of the so-called Reformation, and the true 
characters of the men who instigated it. It has been our 
aim to review these individual traits impartially but fear- 
lessly, and to subject each innovator to a critical examination 
respecting his mental and moral condition, and the animus 
which has directed him. We have been obliged to place 
several of these unfortunate gentlemen in the category of 
monomaniacs ; but in doing this, we have adhered rigidly to 
the definitions of the most reputable medical authorities 
upon mental diseases. 

We regret that we have not space to add to the list of 
the Reformers of the sixteenth century, in order to show 
more clearly how rapidly one novelty leads to another, and 
with how much facility absurdity may follow absurdity, and 
impiety follow impiety, when the foundations of Christian 
truth are undermined. We regret still more that we are 
unable to present even the names of the innumerable reli- 
gious novelties and sects which have sprung into existence 
since the Reformation ; for such an exposition would shock 
and grieve most deeply all who regard the repeated and sol- 
emn injunctions of Christ and His apostles with reference to 
the unity and harmony of His Church. 



CHAPTEE XXY. 

FEUITS OF THE KEFORMATION IN EUROPE. 
Influence on the JReligious Sentiment. 

Amojs-g the first and iinmedia,te fruits of the. Reformation 
in Europe, were an alarming increase of religious skepticism 
and a general deterioration of public morals. These evils 
were legitimate results of the overthrow of the ancient land- 
marks of religion, ecclesiastical law and discipline, and the 
substitution of the theological hypotheses of visionary inno- 
vators. Those who were inclined to sensuality, violence, 
change, and fanaticism, embraced the polygamous and revo- 
lutionary views of Luther, Mathias Harlem, and John of 
Leyden. Those who were revengeful, quarrelsome, cruel, 
and sanguinary, allied themselves to Zwinglius, David 
George, Farel, and Froment. The cynical, selfish, heartless, 
and Puritanical element sided with Calvin. The credulous 
and visionary regarded Melancthon and (Ecolampadius as 
their leaders. The rationalist looked up to Socinus as the 
only true interpreter and guide ; while the great mass of 
Germans— materialistic and godless by nature — regarded 
with complacency all of these numerous and conflicting nov- 
elties and sects, believing in none of them, but holding them 
all up to the gaze of the world as arguments against Chris- 
tianity itself. Luther and his contemporaries rendered it fash- 
ionable to ridicule and calumniate the Church ; human pride 



820 



CHEISTIANITY AHD ITS CONFLICTS. 



and passion brought forth the natural sequences iii infidelity, 
immorality, and contempt for sacred things. 

"The Reformation," says Strauss, "eifected the first' 
breach in the solid structure of the faith of the Church. It 
was the first vital expression of a culture, which had now in 
the heart of Christendom itself, as formerly in relation to 
paganism and Judaism, acquired strength and independence 
sufiicient to create a reaction against the soil of its birth, the 
prevailing religion. This reaction, so long as it was directed 
against the dominant hierarchy, constituted the sublime (?) 
but quickly terminated drama of the Reformation. In its 
later direction against the Bible, it appeared again upon the 
stage in the barren revolutionary efibrts of deism ; and many 
and various have been the forms it has assumed in its prog- 
ress down to the present time. 

" The deists and naturalists of the seventeenth and eigh- 
teenth centuries renewed the polemic attacks of the pagan 
adversaries of Christianity in the bosom of the Christian 
Church ; and gave to the public an irregular and confused 
mass of criticisms, impugning the authenticity and credibili- 
ty of the Scriptures, and exposing to contempt the events 
recorded in the sacred volume." * 

The efforts of these men to corrupt and debauch the reli- 
gious and moral sentiment of Europe, were materially en- 
hanced by inflammatory declamations and unscrupulous 
calumnies, which were scattered broadcast in the form of 
books, pamphlets, and journals, throughout Germany and 
the other kingdoms of Europe. The press was almost en- 
tirely monopolized by these religious revolutionists, and 
through this medium mountains of calumny and vulgar rib- 
aldry were heaped upon the ancient Church and her faith- 
ful children. 

Until the innovating revolution of the sixteenth century, 

the faith of Christendom had been a unit ; there were no 

divisions, no dissensions, no false teachers or false doctrhies 

in the Christian household. Men, women, and children 

* "Lifeof Jesus," vol. i., p. 18. 



FEUITS OF THE EEFOEMATION IN EUROPE. 321 

knew only one Church, one faith, and one form of worship, 
and were contented and happy in their religious convictions. 
So universal was this unity, so thoroughly grounded was 
this faith, and so general was the practical observance of the 
duties of religion, that skepticism, the novelties of individ- 
uals, irreligion, and immorality, were comparatively rare. 
The Christian Church had been made up of converts from 
numerous races and nations, and there had been a continual 
struggle for more than fifteen centuries between the Church 
on the one hand and these elements of ignorance and evil on 
the other ; but, notwithstanding these fearful obstacles, the 
Church had finally triumphed, true Christian civilization had 
fairly gained the ascendency over barbarism, and a univer- 
sal reign of Christian unity and concord was rapidly dawn- 
ing over the whole world, when, suddenly, the innovators of 
Germany broke in upon this unity and harmony, arrested 
the onward progress of Christianity, and deluged the world 
with distracting novelties, creeds, and sects. Novel, absurd, 
and revolutionary sentiments, generally diffused by preach- 
ers, or through the press, and an almost universal deteriora- 
tion of morals and manners, were regarded as freedom of 
thought, liberty of the press, and manly independence. 

After the religious revolution had become fully estab- 
lished, and before the expiration of the sixteenth century, 
rationalism, materialism, and religious indifference had made 
alarming progress throughout Europe. Nearly all reverence 
for sacred things, and all love for or faith in religion, seemed 
to have departed from the minds and hearts of men. Vision- 
ary enthusiasts made their appearance at every point, ha= 
ranguing and exhorting the credulous multitude, undermi- 
ning their faith, and deluding them into paths of error and 
sin. 

Until the Reformation marriage had always been regard- 
ed by Christians as a holy sacrament, and a binding and 
permanent contract. Up to this period no one had presumed 
to misinterpret or to violate Christ's positive injunctions to 
cleave to one wife, and to " let no man put asunder what God 



322 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

has joined together." The universal Church, those in author- 
ity, and society recognized the obligatory character of these 
specific commands, as well as their consummate wisdom 
and utility in a moral and social point of view. But when, 
in 1540, Luther, Bucer, and Melancthon, after careful delib- 
eration, and a full consultation upon the subject, gave their 
written permission to Philip, the Landgrave of Hesse, to 
marry Marguerite de Saal, while his first wife, Christine of 
Saxony, was still living, and with her consent, the religious 
sentiment of Europe was outraged and debauched. The par- 
ties interested in the scandalous transaction endeavored to 
keep the matter secret, but the arch-patron of evil could not 
afiibrd to lose the potent influence of this novel and authori- 
tative example, and the whole affair was made public. Here 
was a powerful ruler, the chief patron and defender of the 
Reformation, the political father of millions of trusting sub- 
jects, who deliberately violated one of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of Christianity, and gave an example of disobedience 
in the highest degree derogatory to the religious sentiment 
and the morals of his people. In his celebrated letter to his 
spiritual advisers, in which he presents arguments in favor 
of polygamy from the Old Testament^ and from the practices 
of the Mosaic patriarchs, the great civil champion of the Ref- 
ormation ignores the positive precepts and commands which 
Christ incorporated in the New Law, With these arguments, 
and a promise to aid the Reformation by arms in case of 
compliance, he submitted the question to the three leading 
Reformers, who, after deliberation, and over their own sig- 
natures, gave the desired permission, sanctioned the sacrile- 
gious outrage against the laws of Christ, and set an example 
which has brought forth evil fruits down to the present mo- 
ment. What do we see ? The three master-spirits of the 
Reformation, and their principal convert, patron, and de- 
fender, all taking issue with Christ concerning a holy sacra- 
ment, repudiating and disobeying a specific injunction of the 
l!^ew Testament, by which they claimed to be exclusively 
governed, and setting up in its stead the obsolete Mosaic 



FEUITS OF THE KEFOEMATION IN EUEOPE. 323 

theory and practice of polygamy ! And yet these men de- 
nominated themselves Beformers ! 

No sooner were the facts respecting this plurality of 
wives made public, than wicked priests and nuns rushed in 
hot haste to violate their sacred vows of celibacy, and to 
indulge in worldly pleasures. Many, like Mathias Har- 
lem, and the tailor of Leyden, were not content with two 
wives, but took to themselves as many as seventeen at a 
time. With a greater show of decency, Henry VHI. re- 
frained from actually possessing more than one wife at a 
time, for he always had at his command a self-constituted 
divorce-monger — a sharp axe and an expert executioner, and 
thus he managed his amorous affairs with kingly decorum. 
In all Protestant communities, from the Reformation to the 
present time, the sacred obligations of marriage have con- 
tinued to become less and less appreciated and respected. 
The looseness of the laws and statutes concerning divorces 
in Great Britain and the United States is a scoff and a by- 
word to every real Christian. In the latter country espe- 
cially, the most trivial pretext of a licentious husband or 
wife is admitted as a valid ground for a divorce, and the 
holy bond is severed by a dozen words from a magistrate. 
Independently of the pernicious influences which this fruit 
of the Reformation has exercised upon morals, the welfare of 
families, and society, it has contributed materially toward 
corrupting and degrading the religious sentiment of the 
world. Trace these influences where you will, and they will 
always be found associated with immorality, vice, and a de- 
terioration of morals and manners. 

After the Reformation had become fully established in 
Germany, each innovator deemed it necessary to oppose 
every thing pertaining to Catholicism. The divinely-insti- 
tuted sacraments were sneered at and neglected, the sacred 
emblems of the crucifixion, the likenesses and statues of our 
Saviour, the pictorial and other representations of the scenes 
and incidents connected with Christ's mission to earth, and 
even the Catholic churches, monasteries, and libraries were 



324 CHKISTTANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS, 

everywhere attacked, mutilated, and often utterly destroyed. 
Whatever was held sacred by Catholics was systematically 
denounced and ridiculed, and the Scriptures were perverted 
and distorted in order to sustain these adverse doctrines. In 
their sacrilegious desecration of sacred things, preachers 
themselves not unfrequently led on the riotous mob, and with 
their own hands aided in insulting and destroying the em- 
blems of Christianity. These acts of vandalism were perpe- 
trated under the influence of anger and vindictiveness, and 
not from any conscientious convictions of duty. Thus, when 
Karlstadt entered the Catholic churches of "Wittenberg, sup- 
ported and urged on by a fierce rabble, he made no effort to 
conceal his brutal ferocity, and his contempt for those things 
which all Christendom had hitherto regarded as holy. We 
have before remarked that, in the first instance, the revolu- 
tionists never dreamed of doubting or of opposing the funda- 
mental doctrines of the ancient Church. Every faculty of 
their minds and hearts, every true aspiration of their souls, 
every instinct of their natures, assured them of these eternal 
truths, and it was only when the baser emotions of hatred, 
anger, vengeance, lust, and thirst for notoriety gained full 
possession of them, that they cast aside all the restraints of 
that religion which had governed the religious world during 
the Christian era, and gave themselves up to the innovations, 
novelties, and sacrilegious impieties and immoralities of men. 
In their frantic efforts to injure the Church, and to secure 
proselytes, they deemed it necessary to debase and destroy, 
as far as possible, the religious sentiment of the people, and 
ail reverence for sacred things. 

That nothing calculated to impair this religious senti- 
ment should be omitted, the revolutionists and their followers 
not only attacked the churches, monasteries, and nunneries 
with fire and sword, but actually forced the priests, monks, 
and nuns from altar, cloister, and cell— from their earthly 
homes, from their devotional lives, from their means of sus- 
tenance — and with insults, jeers, and stripes drove them 
through the streets and by-w^ays, penniless, heli^less, and 



FEUITS OF THE EEFOEMATION IN EUROPE. 325 

hungry. In many instances they were murdered in cold 
blood, amid the scoffs and ribaldry of the reformed converts. 
And yet these men had the assurance to announce them- 
selves as disciples of Jesus of I^azareth, the Prince of peace, 
love, and charity ! 

In Switzerland a similar depravation of the religious sen- 
timent occurred under the teachings of Zwinglius, Calvin, 
and Farel, as had already been accomplished in Germany 
under the inspiration of Luther, Bucer, Melancthon, Karl- 
stadt, and the mad prophets of Munster and Leyden. But 
the Swiss innovators found it a more difficult task to corrupt 
the sentiments of the inhabitants of the cantons of Switzer- 
land than their German brethren had experienced in mis- 
leading the people of that nation. The fatalistic doctrines of 
Calvin, although presented with all the eloquence and subtle 
sophistry of Calvin himself, and advocated with the fiery 
zeal and unwearied energy of men like Farel, Froment, and 
Zwinglius, would never have made progress beyond the 
limits of Geneva, unless the bayonet and the fagot had been 
brought into requisition as proselyting auxiliaries. Time 
and again were the cantons of Zurich, Berne, and Vaud be- 
sieged by these teachers of new and strange doctrines with- 
out success, and it was only when a fanatical army entered 
their borders, with " military necessity " inscribed upon their 
innovating banners, that the helpless inhabitants succumbed. 
Under the spur of the bayonet on the one hand, and the 
temptations of a life of irreligion and self-indu.lgence on the 
other, a portion of the people of the invaded districts ab- 
jured their allegiance to the Church, and embarked upon an 
ocean of doubt, skepticism, novelty, and change. Every 
means which ingenuity and hatred of the Church could de- 
vise were resorted to by the revolutionary radicals of Swit- 
zerland to degrade, and, if possible, to extinguish the religious 
sentiment of the people, and to mould them into the Puri- 
tanical hypotheses of Calvin. What the cunning sophistries, 
the polished writings, and the remarkable eloquence of the 
Genevan innovator could not accomplish, was left to the 



326 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

bloody swords of his pious auxiliaries. With these united 
elements, the Reformation made progress in the land of Wil- 
liam Tell for several generations, and infidelity, fraternal dis- 
cord, and a general depravation of morals and manners ob- 
tained, where true faith, concord, and morality had before 
existed. Before Calvin and Zwinglius commenced their in- 
novations, the people of the thirteen Swiss cantons were 
united, religious, moral, prosperous, peaceful, and happy; 
afterward they became estranged, hostile, revengeful, san- 
guinary, skeptical, immoral, and distracted by contentions 
and civil wars. Friends, neighbors, and relatives became 
enemies, the golden maxims of Christ were ignored, and 
the theological inventions of ambitious men were adopted as 
the only rule of faith and action. " The same great features 
marked the revolutions in both Germany and Switzerland, 
with this only difference, that the Swiss was more radical 
and more thorough. Like the German, however, its progress 
was everywhere signalized by dissensions, civil commotions, 
rapine, violence, and bloodshed. And, like the German, it 
was also indebted for its permanent establishment to the in- 
terposition of the civil authorities." * 

Until the Reformation, the religious sentiment of France, 
was uniform and free from doubts and distractions. If now 
and then an eccentric and visionary man cavilled at some indi- 
vidual indiscretion, or objected to some point of Church discip- 
line, his opposition was impotent, and he stood alone, an object 
of contempt or commiseration. But when the door for licen- 
tiousness of thought and action was opened wide by the 
German Reformers, the legitimate fruits were speedily man- 
ifest in innumerable and diverse creeds, theological specula- 
tions, and political systems founded upon rationalism, per- 
sonal ambition, and the interests of civil rulers. The laws 
of God were perverted or ignored, as individual interest dic- 
tated. Impoverished and unscrupulous rulers had only to 
adopt the Puritan system, plant themselves upon a conve- 
nient theological platform, and then replenish their exhausted 

* Spaulding, "History of the Protestant Reformatiou," p. 168. 



FEUITS OF THE EEFORMATION IN EUKOPE. 327 

coffers by robbing the rich possessions of the Churcli. All 
history warrants the assertion that nearly all the kings and 
nobles who joined the Reformation during the sixteenth, 
seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries were actuated solely 
by a desire to seize fraudulently upon these rich possessions. 
These were the men who upheld by the sword, or by patron- 
age, the revolutionary sectaries of Europe, and entailed upon 
the world such a multiplicity of sects. These were the men 
who aided and abetted the religious revolutionists with the 
strong arm of civil and military power, to impair the unity 
and harmony of the Church, and to elevate as teachers and 
manufacturers of religious sentiment such men as Voltaire, 
Rousseau, Hume, Gibbon, Kant, and Tom Paine. At the 
courts of Protestant princes the rankest infidel could always 
find protection and support. 

Alluding to the rapid progress of rationalism in the latter 
half of the eighteenth century, DoUinger observes : " The 
new philosophic systems, conceived, born, and bred in Prot- 
estantism, aided and promoted the progress of rationalism. 
The Kantian philosophy declares the religion of reason to be 
the only true one. . . . Revealed religion, according to this 
system, can and ought to be naught else but a mere vehicle 
for the easier introduction of rational religion. . . . By the side 
of this Kantian philosophy, the rival system of Jacobi found 
its partisans among the Protestant divines ; and this philos- 
ophy was no less incompatible with the Christian religion 
than that of Kant. According to Jacobi, religion, like all 
philosophic science, depends on a natural, immediate faith — an 
indemonstrable perception of the true and the spiritual ; and 
any other revelation besides this inward one doth not exist." * 

It is a strange thing that such multitudes have been 
willing to abandon the divine precepts of Christ and His 
Church, to sacrifice their principles, and to peril their future 
welfare at the suggestion of an innovating philosopher or 
theologian, or for the sake of worldly gain. But it is an in- 
controvertible fact, that when men once discard the princi- 
* DoUinger " Kirchengescbiclite," pp. 343, 344. 



328 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

pies and restraints of religion, become slaves to mere human 
philosophy, and allow pride and passion to dominate over 
them, they fall to the level of brutes in point of unreasoning 
recklessness of opinion, ferocity, and cruelty. When these 
passions once gain headway, the mad torrent sweeps away 
and destroys every thing before it — conscience, religion, rea- 
son, and humanity. 

Almost every eminent Protestant historian has alluded to 
the great debt which mankind owes to the ancient Church as 
the only depository and preserver of learning up to the six- 
teenth century, and of whatever knowledge had come down 
from the early and middle ages concerning agriculture and 
the useful arts. Many of them have appreciated the dangers 
of innovations upon the established doctrines of this ancient 
Church, and the substitution in their place of the rationalistic 
liypotheses of individuals. Alluding to the Albigensian and 
Lollard heresies, Macaulay writes : " If that Church (Ro- 
man) had been overthrown in the twelfth or even in the four- 
teenth century, the vacant space would have been occupied 
by some system more corrupt still. There was then, through 
the greater part of Europe, very little knowledge, and that 
little was confined to the clergy. !N"ot one man in five hun- 
dred could have spelled his way through a psalm. Books were 
few and costly. The art of printing was unknown. Copies 
of the Bible, inferior in beauty and clearness to those which 
every cottager may now command, sold for j)i'ices which 
many priests could not afford to give. It was obviously im- 
possible that the laity should search the Scriptures for them- 
selves. It is probable, therefore, that as soon as they had put 
off one spiritual yoke, they would have put on another, and 
that the power lately exercised by the clergy of the Church 
of Rome would have passed to a far worse class of teachers. 
The sixteenth century was comparatively a time of light. 
Yet even in the sixteenth century a considerable number of 
those who quitted the old religion, followed the first confi- 
dent and plausible guide who offered himself, and were soon 
led into errors far more serious than those which they had 



FRriTS OF THE KEFOEMATION IN EUEOPE. 329 

renounced. Thus Mathias and Kniperdoling, apostles of lust, 
robbery, and murder, were able for a time to rule great cit- 
ies. In a darker age sucli false prophets might have founded 
empires ; and Christianity might have been distorted into a 
cruel and licentious superstition, more noxious, not only than 
popery, but even than Islamism." * 

From an ardent Protestant like Macaulay, these admis- 
sions, although tinctured with insinuations against Catholi- 
cism, are significant. The facts are clearly recognized by the 
learned historian, that nearly all knowledge, the Sacred Wri- 
tings, and every thing pertaining to Christianity and civiliza- 
tion were in the exclusive possession of the clergy of the 
Roman Catholic Church previous to the Reformation ; and 
that, if this Church " had been overthrown in the twelfth or 
even in the fourteenth century, the vacant space would have 
been occupied by some system more corrupt still." As an 
illustration of this assertion, he cites the sad fruits of a few 
of the innovators of the sixteenth century. If the graphic 
pen of Macaulay had traced out all of the disastrous fruits 
of the Reformation, in the forms of rationalism, atheism, 
sectarianism, immorality, general wickedness, with discord 
and civil wars, he would have presented us with a startling 
picture of human credulity, depravity, and vice. 

Referring to the Reformation in France, D'Aubigne ob- 
serves "that France, after having been almost reformed, 
found herself, in the result, Roman Catholic. The sword of 
her princes, cast into the scale, caused it to incline in favor 
of Rome. Alas ! another sword, that of the Reformers them- 
selves, insured the failure of the effort for Reformation." f 
Other causes besides these contributed materially to the 
ultimate failure of the Reformation in France. In the first 
instance, the Puritanical teachings of Calvin swept like a 
devastating torrent over the public mind of France, under- 
mining to a greater or less extent religious faith, instilling 
doubts concerning the necessity of good works, and inaugu- 
rating an era of licentiousness of thought, expression, and ac- 
* " Hist, of England," vol. i., p. 34. f " Hist, of the Eef." vol. i., p. 86. 



330 CHEISTIANITY AHJ) ITS CONFLICTS. 

tion similar to that wMcli existed in Rome under Claudius 
and Nero. But, ere long, the very violence of these excesses 
brought about a healthful reaction, and, as passion subsided 
and sober reason again resumed the ascendency, the masses 
of the people renounced the new doctrines and returned to 
the religion of their fathers. That the bloody swords of the 
Reformers contributed something toward this reactionary 
movement, we concede ; but the general decline of the re- 
ligious sentiment, and the universal deterioration of morals 
and manners, exercised by far the greater influence. Many 
writers, including Bossuet and Balmes, have alluded to the 
undoubted fact, that Calvinism leads directly either to infi- 
delity or back to Catholicism. The attempt to reconcile the 
Calvinistic doctrines with infinite love, mercy, and justice on 
the part of the Creator, is so repugnant to common sense, 
that men instinctively rush into religious skepticism, or re- 
turn to the fold of the Church. This, among other reasons, 
induced France, " after having been almost reformed," to be- 
come again Roman Catholic. 

The introduction of Calvinism into France not only de- 
based the religious sentiment of the Huguenots themselves, 
but its demoralizing influences were apparent among those 
who still clung to the Catholic faith. This decline in reli- 
gion and morals was especially marked during the seven- 
teenth century, under the reigns of Henry IV., Louis XHL, 
Louis XIY., and Louis XV. The printed books and pam- 
phlets with which the Huguenots deluged France, were filled 
with abusive calumnies against the Catholic Church and her 
priesthood, and ridicule and sarcasm against the most sacred 
doctrines and observances of Christianity. Fraternal dis- 
cord and strife were everywhere incited by the partisans of 
Calvin, and, at one period, nearly the whole nation became 
contaminated with infidelity, immorality, sensuality, and a 
spirit of dissension. Referring to the influence of the Refor- 
mation in France, Bishop Spaulding thus writes : " But Prot- 
estantism obtained sufiicient foothold in France to do in- 
credible mischief for a century and a half; and it sowed 



FEUITS OF THE EEFOEMATION IN EUJKOPE. 331 

upon her beautiful soil the fatal seeds which, two centuries 
and a half later, produced the bitter fruits of anarchy, infidel- 
ity, and bloodshed, during the dreadful reign of terror."* 

Ere long, the same innovating spirit which had swept 
over the Continent like a moral sirocco, manifested itself in 
England. As in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and France, 
the chief instigators were ambitious, licentious, and grasping 
rulers on the one hand, and worldly and wicked priests on 
the other. When Henry VIII. became the supreme spiritual 
and temporal head of his dominions, he reduced the religious 
sentiment of England into a mere political formula. He held 
the conscience and the religious faith of his subjects in the 
palm of his hand, and he caused his wicked pretensions and 
assumptions of spiritual power to be ratified by acts of Par- 
liament. In imitation of the German and Swiss creed-coin- 
ers, bluff King Hal, aided by his unscrupulous archbishop, 
manufactured a creed and a religion for his subjects, and 
constituted them a part and parcel of the organic laws of the 
laud. 

" The king," says Macaulay, " was to be the pope of his 
kingdom, the vicar of God, the expositor of Catholic verity, 
the channel of sacramental graces. He arrogated to himself 
the right of deciding dogmatically what was orthodox doc- 
trine and what was heresy, of drawing up and imposing con- 
fessions of faith, and of giving religious instruction to his 
people. He proclaimed that all jurisdiction, spiritual as well 
as temporal, was derived from him alone, and that it was in 
his power to confer episcopal authority, and to take it away. 
He actually ordered his seal to be put to commissions, by 
which bishops were appointed, who were to exercise their 
functions as his deputies, and during his pleasure. Accord- 
ing to this system, as expounded by Cranmer, the king was 
the spiritual as well as the temporal chief of the nation." f 

How sad and humiliating the spectacle ! A great and 
proud people, ranking high in intelligence and culture among 

* Spalding's " History of the Protestant Reformation," p. 109. 
•)• " History of England," p. 41. 



332 CHEISTIANITY AI^D ITS CONFLICTS. * 

the nations of the earth, forced to give up their religious 
opinions, and to believe and to worship in accordance with 
a royal formula framed by the king — perhaps while in the 
arms of his mistress — and his bishop, and ratified by parlia- 
mentary enactment! Could the religious sentiment of a 
people have been more debased, or could true religion have 
received a more vital stab than this ? 

We cannot look back upon our forefathers of this epoch 
with any degree of respect, when we remember that they 
abandoned all of their religious convictions at the dictation 
of a licentious despot, and blindly accepted a theological sys- 
tem and a new religion which had been made to order by an 
unprincipled and pliant prelate. Such an abject debase- 
ment of the religious sentiment of the majority of a great 
nation, must forever remain recorded, against it as a stigma 
upon its principles and its courage. Even the Continental 
innoA'ators reserved to themselves the privilege of selecting 
their articles of faith and their mode of worship ; but our 
English ancestors were forced to pocket their reasons and 
their consciences, and to adopt as truth and religion what- 
ever lustful Henry and intriguing Cranmer chose to offer 
them. It must be difiicult for any one of English descent to 
contemplate this weakness and religious defection without 
emotions of shame and humiliation. 

It is true that Queen Elizabeth altered the original tlieo- 
logical code of her father from motives of political expediency, 
and conformed it somewhat to the prejudices of her dissent- 
ing sectaries, with a view of conciliating their friendship and 
their political support ; but with all these modifications, the 
Anglican faith and the Anglican Church were still of human 
origin, and were presided over, regulated, and sustained 
solely by monarch and Parliament. But amidst this general 
decline of the religious principle, it must not be forgotten 
that a considerable number preferred to suffer persecution 
and death rather than renounce their religion. These martyrs 
must be forever regarded as the only representatives of true 
Christianity, as well as of manhood and courage, under the 



FKiriTS OF THE REFOEMATIOJS" IN ETJEOPE. 333 

reigns of Henry and Elizabeth. Had the servile subjects of 
these rulers been presented with a Socinian, or a Lutheran, or 
a Calvinistic, or an Atheistic, or even a Mohammedan system 
of theology, instead of the one actually given them, we verily 
believe' that either one of them would have been accepted, 
with perhaps the soothing proviso which Henry condescended 
to incorporate in the first instance, viz., " that the doctrines 
accepted should not be in violation of the laws of God." A 
people that would give up, at short notice, the convictions of 
their lives and the religion of their fathers at the command 
of a man, and, without examination or query, adopt a new 
one, would have accepted any other system with the same 
facility. 

" Popery," says D'Aubigne, " is a lofty barrrier erected 
by the labor of ages between God and man. If any one de- 
sires to scale it, he must pay, or he must suffer ; and even 
then he will not surmount it. 

" The Reformation is the power that has overthrown this 
barrier, that has restored Christ to man, and has thus opened 
a level path by which he may reach his Creator. 

"Popery interposes the Church between God and man. 
Primitive Christianity and the Reformation bring God and 
man face to face. 

" Popery separates them — the gospel unites them." * 

If popery has interposed the Church between God and 
man, as a " lofty barrier which man has been unable to sur- 
mount," from the time of the apostles until the Reformation, 
we beg to ask M. D'Aubigne where was the Divine Guardian 
of this Church during all these ages, and what becomes of 
the solemn declaration of Jesus Christ just before His ascen- 
sion, that Me would remain with it forever f Does this 
innovator suppose that the divine Spirit of Truth would 
tolerate error or irreligion in a Church over which He pre- 
sides as special guardian and defender, and which was found- 
ed by Jehovah Himself? Does this man really believe 
that Christ's Church was a failure during fifteen hundred 
* "History of the Reformation," p. 16. 



334: CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

years; that the Holy Spirit was unable to lead it and to 
keep it in all truth; and that, after so many ages, such men as 
Luther, Bucer, Calvin, John of Leyden, Cranmer, Henry 
VHL, and Socinus, extricated the Spirit of God from His 
false position. His difficulties, and His failures, and placed 
" primitive Christianity " on its legs again ? 

How has " the Reformation brought God and man face 
to face?" By giving free scope to licentiousness of thought 
and expression, to pride of opinion, and to human passion, 
"the Reformation has brought men face to face with God," 
as Lutherans, Calvinists, Unitarians, Socinians, Arminians, 
Infidels, Deists, Atheists, Pantheists, Rationalists, XJniverSal- 
ists, Spiritualists, Mormons, Transcendentalists, and in thou- 
sands of other conflicting and impious modes. The Refor- 
mation has indeed " brought God and man face to face," but 
only to deride His holy truths, to repudiate the mission of 
His Son, and to mock and insult Him with all kinds of 
infidelity. If " the Reformation is the power that has over- 
thrown this barrier," it is the power which has opened the 
flood-gates of rationalism and atheism, and deluged the 
world with irreligion and all kinds of immorality. " Primi- 
tive Christianity," to which D'Aubigne likens the Reforma- 
tion, was comprised within one Church, one fold, one Lord, 
one faith, and one baptism : the Reformation numbers her 
churches and her articles of faith by thousands. " Primitive 
Christianity " was opposed to fraternal wars, and to sectarian 
divisions and hatreds ; the history of the Reformation is but 
a series of bloody civil wars, of sectional and sectarian con- 
tentions, animosities, and retaliations. " Primitive Chris- 
tianity " inculcated brotherly love, charity, and disinterested 
benevolence ; Reformed Christianity preaches and practices 
hatred, vengeance, cruelty, blood. " Primitive Christianity " 
endeavored to bring man face to face with God, in unity of 
faith, and in perfect confidence, adoration, and obedience to 
the divine precepts ; the reformed clergy have always brought 
men face to face with the Almighty in the form of contradic- 
tory, wrangling, and very often infidel sects. ' The primitive 



FEDITS OF THE EEFOEMATION IN EUEOPE. 335 

Christians and their loyal successors have always held their 
own finite judgments subordinate to the divinely instituted 
precepts of the Church, and have ever recognized the fact that 
the Spirit of Truth animates and directs this Church ; the 
Reformers have ignored the promises of Christ, and the 
divine guardianship over the Church, and have set up certain 
revolutionary agitators as the only interpreters and custodians 
of the Sacred Writings. The primitive Church has alw^ays 
exalted the religious sentiment of the world ; the innovating 
religionists have ever debased it. How absurd then, to class 
the religious revolution of the sixteenth century with " Primi- 
tive Christianity ! " 

D'Aubigne asserts " that there can only be three kinds 
of religion upon earth, according as God, man, or the priest 
is its author and its head." He declares that " hierarch- 
ism, or the religion of the priest — Christianity, or the reli- 
gion of God — rationalism, or the religion of man, are the 
three doctrines that divide Christendom in our days. There 
is no salvation, either for man or for society, in the first or in 
the last." * 

If the ideas of this Calvinistic writer are correct, the 
apostolic hierarchy was a priestly invention ; the ordinations 
of bishops, priests, and deacons in every place, as executive 
ministers of the New Law, was a priestly device to secure pros- 
elytes and power ; their exhortations to repentance, confes- 
sion, baptism, confirmation, and works meet for repentance, 
idle mummeries " invented by the priest for the glory of 
the priest ; " the missionary enterprises of the " hierarchy " 
simply priestly organizations to build up and to glorify a 
" sacerdotal caste," and " there is no salvation, either for 
man or for society," in the teachings and the labors of the 
ecclesiastical organization which Jesus Christ established to 
preside forever over His Church. ^ The Swiss writer assigns 
the following reason for what he is pleased to term the fall 
of the Church : " The Church has fallen, because the great 
doctrine of justification by faith in the Saviour had been 
* " History of the Eeformation," p. 5. 



336 CHETSTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

taken away from her. It was necessary, therefore, before 
she could rise again, that this doctrine should be restored to 
her. As soon as this fundamental truth should be reestab- 
lished in Christendom, all the errors and observances that 
had taken its place, all that multitude of saints, of works, 
penances, masses, indulgences, etc., would disappear." * 

Here we find the animus of D'Aubigne in a nut-shell. 
Justification by faith alone, without works ; predestination, 
foreordination, election, total depravity, in a word, thQ fatal- 
istic tenets of John Calvin, are the stand-points from which 
he has judged and written respecting the Catholic Church. 
We need not wonder then that he denies the necessity of an 
ecclesiastical organization, of a " hierarchy," a " sacerdotal 
caste," or any other worJcing association of Christians. We 
need not wonder that he repudiates and scoffs at good works, 
penances, all tokens of respect for Christ, and all commemo- 
rations of His passion and crucifixion. We need not wonder 
that he ridicules the devotional observances of the Catholic 
Church, when he regards man as a helpless being in the 
hands of the Almighty, living out a prearranged destiny, 
and then to be eternally damned or saved, as vengeance or 
mercy may have originally actuated his Creator. 

But, notwithstanding these Puritanical and sacrilegious 
ideas of God, and the gross misrepresentations of the Catho- 
olic Church and her doctrines ; notwithstanding he has ac- 
cused her and her children of deifying the Roman pontiffs, 
of rendering divine worship to departed saints and martyrs, 
of purchasing salvation with money, of placing obstacles in 
the way of man's salvation, of refusing to men the privilege 
of praying to God, or to Christ, or to the Holy Ghost, or of 
soliciting from them grace, pardon, and redemption, this 
Puritanical writer is forced to make the following admission : 
"But first let us pay due honor to the Church of the middle 
ages, which succeeded that of the apostles and of the fathers, 
and which preceded that of the Reformers. The Church was 
still the Church, although fallen, and daily more and more 

* " History of tl>c Reformation," p. 2a 



FRUITS OF THE EEFOEMATIOH m EUEOPE. 337 

enslaved ; that is to say, she was always the greatest friend 
of man. Her hands, though bound, could still he raised to 
bless. Eminent servants of Jesus Christ, who were true 
Protestants as regards the essential doctrines of Christianity, 
diffused a cheering light during the dark ages, and in the 
humblest convent, in the remotest parish, might be found 
poor monks and poor priests to alleviate great sufferings. 
The Catholic Church was not the papacy. [Nor has it ever 
been ; the papacy is merely a constituent element of the 
Church,] The latter was the oppressor, the former the op- 
pressed. The Eeformation, which declared war against the 
one, came to deliver the other. And it must be confessed 
that the papacy itself became at times, in the hands of God, 
who brings good out of evil, a necessary counterpoise to the 
power and ambition of princes."* 

The inspired apostle declares " that the heart of 
man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked " 
by nature. It is conceded that this was the condition of men 
before as well as after the Reformation. It is conceded that 
there were many wicked Catholics, many individual disor- 
ders and corruptions among the clergy, and many dissensions 
and wars among Catholic rulers, previous to the religious 
revolution of the sixteenth century. But whoever will com- 
pare these epochs, these men, these immoralities, and these 
contentions and wars, with those of the last three hundred 
years, regarding the circumstances of each period, will find 
more to condemn since than before the Reformation. Cath- 
olics have never laid claim to absolute perfection, or to any 
peculiar immunities from temptation and sin, through the 
special grace of God, and a foreordained election to salva- 
tion. The entire Catholic system recognizes the sad fact of 
man's natural perversity and proneness to violate the laws 
of God and man; and ail her doctrines and observances 
are designed to correct and prevent these natural tendencies 
of erring humanity. 

* "History of the Reformatiou," p. 16. 
15 



CHAPTEE XXYI. 

FRUITS OF THE REFORMATIOJT IN" EUROPE. 

Influence on Morals, JIawters, atid Society. 

To a great extent, the religious sentiment of a commu- 
jiity governs its morals and manners. Unity of faith, a uni- 
form mode of worship, and a firm reliance on those great 
truths which Christ communicated to the apostles and their 
legitimate successors, are important harriers against immo- 
rality and sin. Man, though naturally inclined to self-indul- 
gence, is still a creature of habit and education, and his 
moral being is formed and fixed by the iiifluences which ha- 
bitually encompass him. Take from him the restraints which 
true religion imposes upon him, and deprive him of the po- 
tent aid of the grace-giving sacraments, and he is like a mari- 
ner at sea, without chart or compass, at the mercy of treach- 
erous winds and waves. 

The fearful error — or rather crime— of the German rev- 
olutionists consisted in the fact that they abandoned and at- 
tacked the very Church of God itself, instead of attacking and 
of attempting to reform the erring members of the Church. 
They were all brethren and children of a great Christian 
family, bound together by the most sacred ties, owing 
allegiance to the same GocI, subject to the same divine laws, 
aspiring to the same heaven, and directed to " be careful to 
keep the t^nity of the Spirit in the bond of peace 5 one body 



FETTITS OF THE EEFOEMATIOIT IN EUEOPE. 339 

and one Spirit, as you are called in one hope of your voca- 
tion ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism." * 

It was an eyil hour for Christianity when this sacred com- 
pact was rudely ruptured, and the raging fires of schism were 
lighted within the Christian household. It was a sad epoch 
for humanity and real progress when the marvellous labors of 
so many ages were trampled upon by a handful of rash and 
fanatical innovators. 

No arguments are necessary to show the frightful deteri- 
oration of morals and manners which everywhere followed in 
the track of the Reformation in Europe. The simple admis- 
sions of the leading innovators themselves contain the most 
ample and conclusive testimony upon this point. "Not one 
additional word need be uttered in proof of the lamentable 
consequences of the Reformation upon the entire fabric of 
European society. Under the pretext of liberating mind and 
conscience from the rigid discipline of the Church — from the 
tyrannies of the priesthood — a loose rein was given to all 
the evil propensities and passions of the heart. Under the 
appellation of " religious freedom," every species of irreligion, 
licentiousness, and crime, was continually committed. Skep- 
ticism or Indifferentism very generally usurped the place of 
religious faith, and the natural promptings of men dominated 
over their actions and their lives. All the wholesome re- 
straints and checks of the church were set aside, and each 
one arrogated to himself the office of interpreter, censor, and 
judge of every thing sacred and profane. Nearly all respect 
for the Christian religion was lost ; Churches were repeatedly 
desecrated and destroyed. The portraits and statues of the 
Saviour, of His beloved mother, and of His holy apostles, and 
the symbols of the crucifixion, were rudely torn from their 
places, scoffed at and burnt. All of those objects and 
ceremonials which had been employed by the Church to 
remind the faithful of the life and marvellous career of Christ 
in behalf of alien man, were ridiculed, and not unfrequently 
prohibited by force ; and the bishops, priests, monks, and 
* Eplieg. IV., 3. 



340 CHEISTIAOTTY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

nuns, were driven from their diurches and monasteries, forced 
from place to place at the point of the bayonet, or summarily- 
suspended, and often murdered in cold blood. As time 
passed on, and these fanatical passions became more and 
more developed, counter-sentiments were excited in the 
breasts of those who had remained faithful to their religion. 
Gradually the powers of evil advanced ; day by day the 
madness and violence of the innovators increased, until the 
natural and final culmination was reached in the form of a 
bloody civil war. Numerous facts might be cited from 
nearly all of the leading Reformers to prove that wherever 
the Reformation became established, a universal deterioration 
of morals, and civil wars, have always occurred. Fornication, 
adultery, avarice, drunkenness, strife, and divorces became 
so common among the followers of the new religionists, that 
modesty and virtue were scoffed at as antiquated and po- 
pish weaknesses, calculated to repress and enslave the tender- 
er emotions of the heart. The Catholic superstitions of the 
celibacy of the priesthood, of cleaving to one wife, and of 
bestowing the affections upon a single woman, were denounced 
as priestly devices to enslave the human heart with all its 
gushing emotions and passions. Luther, Melancthon, Bucer, 
John of Leyden, Munzer, and Cranmer all practically sanc- 
tioned a plurality of wives, as the instances already enumer- 
ated testify. These loose and reformed views of the marriage 
relation led legitimately and naturally to a wide-spread 
divorce-mania. Commencing in high places, with Philip, 
landgrave of Hesse, and Henry YHL, king of England, it 
soon pervaded all classes of Protestant society, shaking to 
their very foundations the fundamental principles of virtue 
and morality. In allusion to this subject, a writer in the 
" Dublin Review," for September, 1848, thus observes : " The 
practice of divorce, too, was in every reformed country an 
immediate consequence of the Reformation ; and if there 
were no other evidence of the connection between the intro- 
duction of the new religion and this frightful deterioration 
of morals, it would be found in the numberless laws against 



I 



FETJITS OF THE EEFORMATION IN EUEOPE. 341 

adultery, fornication, bigamy, etc., whicli date from this 
period, and the frequent and flagrant convictions and sen- 
tences under these laws in every Protestant province of 
Germany." 

In illustration of the assertions we have made respecting 
the influence of the Reformation upon morals, manners, and 
society, we cite the following extracts from the " Dublin Ke- 
view," of September, 1848, Spaulding's " History of the Prot- 
estant Reformation," Dollinger's " German History," and 
from authentic works of the Reformers themselves. The facts 
contained in the " Dublin Review," giving the opinions of 
Luther and others respecting the moral results of the Refor- 
mation, are derived chiefly from the work of Dollinger. 
Our limits enable us to present only a few of the vast number 
of facts bearing upon this subject ; but as they are mostly 
from the mouths of the innovators themselves, their authen- 
ticity will not be questioned, and they may fairly be regarded 
as truthful types of many others which might be adduced : 

" It must not be supposed that the testimonies which we 
have hitherto alleged, or the great mass of those collected by 
the author, describe the social condition but of a portion of 
Germany under the Reformation. There is not a single 
locality which has not its witness — Saxony, Hesse, Nassau, 
Brandenburg, Strasburg, ISTurenburg, Stralsund, Thorn, 
Mecklenburg, Westphalia, Pomerania, Friesland, Denmark, 
Sweden — and all, or almost all, are represented by natives, or 
at least residents familiar with the true state of society, and 
if not directly interested in concealing, certainly not liable to 
the suspicion of any disposition to exaggerate its short-com- 
ings or its crimes. ^ 

" Indeed, the connection between the progress of Luther- 
anism and the corruption of public morals could not possibly 
be put more strikingly than in the words of John Belz, a 
Protestant minister of Allerstadt, in Thuringia (1566). 'If 
you w^ould find,' says Belz, 'a multitude of brutal, coarse, 
godless people, among whom every species of sin is every day 
in full career, go into a city where the holy gospel is taught, 



342 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

and where the best preachers are to be met, and there you 
will be sure to find them in abundance. To be pious and 
upright (for which God praises Job), is nowadays held, if 
not to be a sin, at least a downright folly; and from many 
pulpits it is proclaimed that good works are not only unne- 
cessary, but hurtful to the soul.' " * 

Menzel has detailed at great length the pernicious influ- 
ences of the Reformation upon the morals and manners of the 
princes, nobles, and people of Germany. He acknowledges 
that rulers, ministers, and subjects, in embracing the inno- 
vations of the Reformers, rushed into almost every conceiv- 
able vice and immorality. Erasmus, the intimate friend of 
Luther and Melancthon thus corroborates the assertions of 
Menzel : " Those whom I had known to be pure, full of can- 
dor and simplicity, these same persons have I seen afterward, 
when they had gone over to the sect (the gospellers) begin 
to speak of girls, flocked to games of hazard, throw aside 
prayer, give themselves up entirely to their interests ; be- 
come the most impatient, vindictive, and frivolous ; changed, 
in fact, from men to vipers. I know well what I say. ... I 
see many Lutherans, but few evangelicals. Look a little at 
these people, and say whether luxury, avarice, and lewdness 
do not prevail still more among them' than among those 
whom they detest. Show me one who by means of this gos- 
pel is become better. I will show you very many who have 
become worse. Perhaps it has been my bad fortune; but 
I have seen none who have not become worse by their gos- 
pel." t 

" Our evangelists," says Luther, " are now sevenfold more 
wicked than they were before the Reformation. In proportion 
as we hear the gospel, we steal, lie, cheat, gorge, swill, and 
commit every crime. If one devil has been driven out of us, 
seven worse ones have taken their j)lace, to judge of the 
conduct of princes, lords, nobles, burgesses, and peasants 
— their utterly shameless acts, and their disregard of God 

* " Dublin Keview," of September, 1848. 
f Epist. Tractibus Germanlso inferioris. . 



FEUITS OF THE EEFOEMATION IN ETJEOPE. 3-13 

and His menaces. Under the papacy, men were charitable, 
and gave freely ; but now, under the gospel, all alms-giving 
is at an end, every one fleeces his neighbor, and each seeks 
to have all for himself. And the longer the gospel is preached, 
the deeper do men sink in avarice, pride, and ostentation. The 
peasants, through the influence of the gospel, have become 
utterly beyond restraint, and think they may do what they 
please. They no longer fear either hell or purgatory, but con- 
tent themselves with saying, ' I believe, therefore I shall be 
saved; and they become proud, stifl'-necked mammonists, 
and accursed misers, sucking the very substance of the 
country and the people." Fp to the very last year of his 
life (1542) Luther continued to write in a similar manner. 
Writing to a friend in 1542, he assures him "that he had al- 
most abandoned all hope for Germany, so universal had 
avarice, usury, tyranny, disunion, and the whole host of un- 
truth, wickedness, and treachery, as well as disregard of the 
word of God and the most unheard-of ingratitude, taken 
possession of the nobility, the courts, the towns, and the vil- 
lages;" In March, 1542, he again writes " that his only hope 
is in the near approach of the last day — the world has be- 
come so barbarous, so tired of the word of God, and enter- 
tains so thorough a disgust for it." In October, 1542, he 
declares "that he is tired of living in this hideous Sodom; 
that all the good which he had hoped to efiect has vanished 
away ; that there remains naught but a deluge of sin and un- 
holiness, and nothing is left for him but to pray for his dis- 
charge. . . . Alas," he cried to the Prince of Anhalt, " we live 
in Babylon and Sodom. Every thing is growing worse and 
worse each day." Just before his death he wrote to his wife 
thus : " Let us fly from this Sodom (Wittenberg). I will wander 
through the world, and beg my bread from door to door, rath- 
er than to embitter and disturb my poor old last days by this 
spectacle of the disorder of Wittenberg, and the fruitlessness 
of my bitter toil in its service. . . . The world," again writes 
Luther, " grows worse and worse, and becomes more wicked 
every day. Men are now more given to revenge, more ava- 



344 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS COliTFLICTS. 

ricious, more devoid of mercy, less modest and more incor- 
rigible—in fine, more wicked than in the papacy. . . . One 
thing, no less astonishing than scandalous, is to see that, since 
the pure doctrine of the gospel has been brought to light, the 
world daily goes from bad to worse." * " Since the downfall 
of popery, and the cessation of its excommunications and 
spiritual penalties, the people have learned to despise the 
word of God. They care no longer for the churches-, they 
have ceased to fear and to honor God." f " The noblemen and 
the peasants," he again declares, " have come to such a pitch 
that they live as they believe ; they are, and continue to be, 
swine ; they live like swine and they die like real swine." J 

Bucer wrote as follows : " The greater part of the people 
seem to have embraced the gospel [the Reformation ?] only 
in order to shake off the yoke of discipline, and the obligation 
of fasting, penances^ etc., which lay upon them in the time of 
popery, and to live at their pleasure, enjoying their lust and 
lawless appetite without control. They therefore lend a 
willing ear to the doctrine that we are justified by faith 
alone, and not by good works, having no relish for them." § 
" Most of the preachers," again writes Bucer, " imagine that 
if they inveigh stoutly against the anti-Christians [papists], 
and chatter away on a few unimportant, fruitless questions, 
and then assail their brethren also, they have discharged 
their duty admirably. Following this example, the people, 
as soon as they know how to attack our adversaries, and to 
prate a little about things far from edifying, believe that 
they are perfect Christians. Meanwhile, there is nowhere to 
be seen modesty, charity, zeal, or ardor for God's glory; and 
in consequence of our conduct, God's holy name is every 
where subjected to horrible blasphemies." || 

Calvin thus alludes to his followers : " Tlie pastors, yes, 
the pastors themselves Avho mount the pulpit. . . are at the 

* Luther in Postilla, sup. Dom. Ad. See also, " Dublin Eeview/* Sept., 1848. 

f Luther, Werke, Ed. Alt., torn, iii., p. 519. 

i " Table-Talk," Sup. i., Ep. Cor., ch. xv. 

§ " De Regno Christi." 1| "Dublin Review," Sept., 1848. 



FEUITS OF THE EEFORMATION IK EUEOPE. 345 

jD resent time the most shameful examples of waywardness 
and other vices. Hence their sermons obtain neither more 
credit nor authority than the fictitious tales uttered on the 
stage by the strolling player. ... I am astonished that the 
women and children do not cover them with mud and filth." * 

" In these latter times," writes Melancthon, " the world 
has taken to itself a boundless license ; very many are so un- 
bridled as to throw off every bond of discipline^ though at the 
same time they pretend that they have faith^ that they invoke 
God with a truer fervor of heart, and that they are lively 
and elect members of the Church ; living, meanwhile, in truly 
Cyclopean indifierence and barbarism, and in slavish subjec- 
tion to the devil, who drives them to adulteries, murders, and 
other atrocious crimes. . . . Men receive with avidity the in- 
flammatory harangues which exaggerate liberty and give 
loose rein to the passions ; as, for example, the cynical, rather 
than the Christian principle, which denies the necessity of 
good works. Posterity will stand amazed that a generation 
should ever have existed, in which these ravings have been 
received with applause. JSTever, in the days of our fathers, 
had there existed such gluttony as exists now, and is- daily 
on the increase. The m^orals of the people, all that they do, 
and all that they neglect to do, are becoming every day 
worse. Gluttony, debauchery, licentiousness, wantonness, 
are gaining the upper hand more and more among the people, 
and in one word, every one does just as he pleases." 

" The children," says Caulman, " are habituated to de- 
bauchery by their parents, and thus comes an endless train 
of diseases, seductions, murders, robberies, and thefts, which, 
unhappily, owing to the state of society, are committed with 
security. And the worst of all is, that they are not ashamed 
to palliate their conduct by the examples of Koah, Lot, 
David, and others." 

"Take any class you please," says Dietrich, "high or 
low, you will find all equally degenerate and corrupt. What 
is more, there is nq longer any social honesty to be found 

* Liv. i., Sur les Scandales, r>. 128. 
15* 



3J:6 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

among the people. The majority persecute the gospel, and 
clmg to the old idolatry. The rest, who have received God's 
word and gospel, are also lawless, insensible to instruction, 
hardened in their old sinful life, as is evident from the whore- 
dom, adultery, usury, avarice, lying, cheating, and manifold 
wickedness which prevail." 

Oh, that we had a few modern Luthers, and Melancthons, 
and Bucers, and Calvins to drag before the public gaze the 
fearful demoralization of their followers and preachers of the 
present day! Could these men again come to earth they 
might still behold in these United States, among the minis- 
ters of nearly all the sects, the same hideous vices, the same 
wicked propensities, the same malignant hatred, the same de- 
sire for revenge, the same thirst for power, riches, and 
luxury, and the same disregard for the merciful and fraternal 
precepts of Jesus, which they so strenuously denounced in 
their innovating brethren of the sixteenth century. They 
might everywhere behold pulpits converted into political 
and partisan tribunes, from whence hatred, discord, and sec- 
tional bitterness are continually preached under the garb of 
religion. They might behold thousands of their most gifted 
ministers, for years in succession, habitually desecrating the 
Sabbath by preaching political discourses, and implanting in 
the minds of their deluded hearers sentiments of hate and 
vengeance against their fellow-men, instead of those of love, 
charity, and forgiveness. They might also witness the 
frightful deterioration of morals, the corruptions, and the 
wide-spread desolations which these diabolical sentiments 
have conduced to fasten upon our war-stricken people. 

"There is one branch of this subject," remarks the writer 
in the Dublin Review already alluded to, " which we do not 
approach without great repugnance, but which, nevertheless, 
it would be most unhistorical to overlook, because there is 
none in which the working of the positive teaching of the 
Reformers is so palpably and unmistakably recognized. We 
refer to the avowed and undeniable deterioration of public 
morality — the indifference to the maintenance of chastity, to 



FEUITS OF THE EEFOEMATION IN EITEOPE. 347 

the observance of the marriage vow, and indeed to the com- 
monest decencies of life, by which the spread of Lutheranism 
was uniformly and instantaneously followed. We cannot 
bring ourselves to pollute our pages with the hateful and 
atrocious doctrines of Luther,* of Sarcerius,f Dresser,| Bu- 
genhagen,§ and many others,|| founded upon what they al- 
lege to be the physical impossibility of observing continence, 
which results from the original constitution of th^ sexes as 
ordained by God ; but we are necessitated to allude to them, 
in order to establish beyond question the connection of these 
doctrines (which, it must be remembered, were enforced by 
Luther chiefly in his German Tracts and Sermons addressed 
to the entire people) with the moral consequences which we 
shall proceed to detail, as briefly and as slightly as circum- 
stances will permit, in the words of the authorities collected 
in the pages before us. ISTothiug can be more revolting than 
the picture of universal and unrestrained depravity which 
they reveal." For additional facts upon this subject, we 
refer the reader to the writings of the Reformers themselves, 
and to to the writers before referred to. 

We have presented a few of the legitimate results of the 
Puritan system, as established by the Reformers in Germany. 
The same sad results have invariably followed these doc- 
trines wherever they have taken root. In Switzerland, 
France, Sweden, Denmark, England, and the United States, 
a general and permanent decline in public morality and vir- 
tue followed the various and conflicting novelties of the sects. 
The scope of this work will not allow us to submit in detail 
the vast array of facts pertaining to this branch of our sub- 
ject with reference to the other countries enumerated ; but a 
simple perusal of the standard histories of each nation will 
amply corroborate our assertion. As we advance, other re- 
sults of the Puritan system, no less calamitous in their char- 
acter than those already alluded to, will become manifest. 

In the first years of his innovating career, Luther depre- 

* Bollinger's "Hist, of Germany," vol. i., pp. 428, 429. f Ibid., p. 431. 
:|: Ibid., p. 432. § Ibid., p. 434. i Ibid., p. 431. 



348 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

cated the use of arms in the establishment of his new doc- 
trines. He confined himself for the most part to violent 
denunciations of the pope, of the clergy, of all opposing 
rulers, and of all laws which opposed a barrier to his am- 
bitious designs. In his work on "Christian Liberty," he 
urged the populace to be governed solely by their own pri- 
vate and personal ideas respecting religion, morals, govern- 
ment, laws, and spiritual and temporal rulers. These inflam- 
matory appeals to the ignorant multitude incited within 
them a spirit of insubordination and discontent, not only 
against the ancient religion, but against the existing govern- 
ment and their legitimate rulers. Among the first fruits of 
this incendiary publication was the " War of the Peasants." 
In the first instance, Luther wrote a letter of encouragement 
to the forty thousand rustic insurgents, sustaining them in 
their revolt; but he afterward wrote another letter to the 
princes, who had now thoroughly prepared themselves for 
resistance, to exterminate without mercy these wretched rebels. 
This first civil war, inaugurated under the influence of the 
Puritan system, occurred in 1525. " In 1525-'26 the temble 
war of the peasants took place in Germany, and penetrated 
even into Switzerland. It had certainly grown out of the 
revolutionary principles broached by the Reformers, and it 
was headed by Protestant preachers, as Ruchat, himself a 
preacher, admits in the the following passage: 'Having at 
their head the preachers of the reform, they pillaged, rav- 
aged, massacred, and burned every thing that fell into their 
hands.'"* In 1528 the Lutherans, under Philip, the land- 
grave of Hesse, took up arms to subjugate the Catholic 
princes who had opposed the extension of their innovations. 
Their anger Avas especially directed against George, duke of 
Saxe ; but by means of large sums of money paid to Philip, 
the Catholic rulers succeeded in temporarily postponing 
actual hostilities. 

After the Diet of Augsburg, in 1531, the Protestants, at 
the instigation of Lutlier, Bucer, and Zwinglius, formed the 
* Spaulding's "History of the Pt-otestant Kcformation,'' p. 186. 



FEIIITS OF THE EEFOEMATION IN ETJEOPE. 849 

league of Smalcalde, and formally resolved to go to war for 
the extension and support of their doctrines. In Switzer- 
land the Protestant cantons, under the leadership of Zwing- 
lius, attacked the Catholic cantons with the utmost ferocity. 
It was in one of these bloody civil battles that the Puritan 
minister — the Reformer — the so-called follower of the Prince 
of peace, Zwinglius, fell, sword in hand, in the act of 
slaughtering his fellow-men and countrymen. Although 
Luther, in the first instance, had declared that no means but 
arguments and moral suasion should be employed in the 
propagation of his novel opinions, yet from this time until 
his death he gave his authority and sanction to military co- 
ercion. These warlike sentiments were opposed by Melanc- 
thon, but all moderate counsels were set at naught by the 
violent and sanguinary partisans of Luther and Zwinglius. 

In 1545, one year before his death, Luther again incited 
his partisans to take up ^rms against the pope and all who 
presumed to adhere to the Catholic faith. In his insane 
violence he denounces the pope as " an enraged wolf, a fero- 
cious beast, and those who defend him as soldiers of a brigand 
cliief, against whom the whole world ought to take up arms, 
and pursue to the death." 

Concerning the Reformation in Switzerland, we cannot 
present an outline of the facts better than to cite a few ex- 
tracts from Spaulding's " History of the Protestant Reforma- 
tion." 

" The same great features marked both revolutions, with 
this only difference, that the Swiss were more radical and 
thorough than the German. Like the German, however, 
its progress was everywhere signalized by dissensions, civil 
commotions, rapine, violence, and bloodshed. And, like the 
German, it was also indebted for its permanent establishment 
to the interposition of the civil authorities The Ref- 
ormation found the thirteen Swiss cantons united, and in 
peace among themselves and with all the world. It sowed 
dissension among them, and plunged them into a fierce and 
protracted civil war, which threatened rudely to pluck up 



850 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

by the roots the venerable tree of liberty which, centuries 
before, their Catholic forefathers had planted and watered 
with their blood ! . . . . The consequences of this attempt to 
subvert the national faith by violence were most disastrous. 
The harmony of the old Swiss republic was destroyed, and 
the augel of peace departed forever from the hills and the 
valleys of that romantic country. That this picture is not 
too highly colored the following brief summary of facts will 
prove : 

" The four cantons of Zurich, Berne, Schaffhausen, and 
Basle, which first embraced the Reformation, began very 
soon thereafter to give evidence of their turbulent spirit. 
They formed a league against the cantons which still re- 
solved to adhere to the Catholic faith. One article of their 
alliance forbade any of the confederates to transport provi- 
sions to the Catholic cantons. Arms were in consequence 
taken up on both sides, and a bloody contest ensued. U1-- 
rich Zwinglius, the father of the Reformation in Switzerland, 
marched with the troops of the Protestant party, and fell, 
bravely fighting with them * the battles of the Lord,' on the 
11th of October, 1531." * 

De Haller, a native of Berne, and a standard historian, 
thus characterizes the j)rogress of the Reformation in Swit- 
zerland: "During the years 1529, 1530, and 1531, Switzer- 1 
land found herself in a frightful condition, and altogether 
similar to that of which we are now witnesses, three centu- 
ries later. Nothing was seen everywhere but hatred, broils, 
and acts of violence ; everywhere reigned discord and divi- 
sion ; discord between the cantons, discord in the bosom of 
the governments, discord between sovereigns and subjects, 
in fine, discord and division even in every parish and in 
every family. The defection of Berne, at which the Zurich- 
ers had labored for six years, had unchained the audacity of 
all the meddlers and bad men in Switzerland. On all sides 
new revolutions broke out ; at Basle, at St. Gall, at Brienne, 
at Thurgovia, at Frauenfeld, at Mellingen, at Bremgarten, 

* "History of the Protestant Reformation," p. 168. 



FEUITS OF THE EEFOEMATIOI^ IN EUSOPE. 351 

even at Gaster, and in the Toggenbnrg, at Herissau, at Wet- 
tingen, and finally at Schaffhausen. . . . Thus one party de- 
clared an implacable war against their fellow-citizens and 
every thing that is sacred, while the other was condemned 
to suffer without resistance all manner of injuries, all manner 
of hostilities ; and this state of triumphant iniquity, and of 
miserable servitude, was qualified by the fine name of peace. 
Everywhere, except at Schaffhausen, a city which was al- 
ways distinguished for its tranquillity, and the peaceful char- 
acter of its inhabitants, seditious armed mobs rushed of their 
own accord to the churches, broke down the altars, burnt the 
images, destroyed the most magnificent monuments of art, 
pillaged the sacred vases, as well as other objects of value, 
and put up for public sale at auction the sacred vestments ; 
by such vandalism, and by such sacrileges, was the religious 
revolution of the sixteenth century signalized."* 

For more than twenty years this condition of anarchy 
and civil war, under the pretext of religion, was kept up by 
the Puritan radicals of Switzerland. " The intolerance of 
the Protestant party," says Bishop Spaulding, "was sur- 
passed only by its utter inconsistency. The glorious privi- 
leges of private judgment, of liberty of conscience, and liber- 
ty of the press, were forever on their lips, and yet they reck- 
lessly trampled them all under their feet ! Each one was to 
interpret the Bible for himself, and yet he who dared inter- 
pret it differently from their excellencies, the councilloi'S of 
Berne, was punished as an enemy of the government ! . . . . 
Catholics were not the only ones Vfho felt the smart of Prot- 
estant intolerance in Switzerland. Brother Protestants w^ere 
also persecuted, if they had the misfortune to believe either 
more or less than their more enlightened brethren, who hap- 
pened to be orthodox for the time being. The Anabaptists, 
in particular, were hunted down with a ferocity which is 
almost inconceivable. The favorite mode of punishing them, 
especially at Berne, was by drowning! This manner of 
death v/as deemed the most appropriate, because it was only 

* De Haller, pp. 62-64. 



352 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

baptizing them in their own way ! " * De Haller asserts that 
a common mode of punishment was to "subject them to 
perpetual imprisonment on bread and water.'''* 

ISTot only De Haller, but many eminent Protestant histo- 
rians, like Ruchat, Mallet, Capito, Sartorius, and Spon, admit 
that the Puritan system was introduced and established in 
Switzerland by force of arms. It is true that actual war 
was usually preceded by insidious agitations, by industrious- 
ly circulated falsehoods, by low appeals to avarice, passion, 
hatred, and the baser emotions of the heart ; but these were 
only pioneers in the grand revolutionary movement — the ad- 
vance-guards of the bloody demon of Reformation, which 
secretly crouched in the background, ready to pounce upon 
its victims with lire and sword. 

Under the reigns of Francis I, Henry H., Francis H,, 
and Charles IX., the Puritan system, under the direction of 
Calvin and Farel, with other leaders, gained a foothold in 
France. During the firm rule of the first two monarchs, the 
innovators were only able to sow insidiously the seeds of 
discord, sedition, and civil strife. But under the latter kings 
the mask was thrown off, and the Puritan system, in all 
its hideous intolerance and cruelty, manifested itself. At the 
instigation of the violent emissaries of Calvin, who were 
excited to ferocity by the blood which their brethren had 
already shed in Germany and Switzerland, civil war com- 
menced in France. Nearly all the provinces and cities 
which were cursed by the presence of these sanguinary agi- 
tators, were deluged with fraternal blood, and devastated. 
Every tyranny and oppression which hatred, vengeance, and 
fanaticism could devise, were heaped upon the Catholics by 
these ferocious fatalists of this branch of the Reformation. As 
Bossuet. remarks: "They not only lighted up war in all 
the towns and provinces, but they invited strangers from all 
parts into the midst of France, as to a conquered countiy, 
and reduced this flourishing realm to the brink of ruin, with- 
out ever ceasing to prosecute the war, even after the people 
* "History of the Protestant Keformation," p. 194, 



FEUITS OF THE EEFOEMATION IN EUROPE. 353 

had been subjugated, their defences destroyed, and all ability 
to resist had ceased." * 

Who can avoid marking the parallel between these 
French Puritans and the present Puritans of N'ew England, 
in their policy and treatment of the subjugated and im- 
poverished Southern people? Were those Calvinistic drag- 
ons of the sixteenth century any more vindictive and cruel 
than are those of this epoch ? Impartial history will respond 
in the negatiYe. 

In 1559, under the reign of Francis 11. , the Puritans had 
obtained such a foothold in France as to enable them to 
commence in earnest their revolutionary schemes. Instigated 
by Calvin and other Swiss Puritans, the Huguenots plotted 
the well-known conspiracy of Amboise, having for its object 
the seizure of the government, the degradation of the Duke 
of Guise, and the accession to his place of some partisan who 
would promote their religious and political designs. This 
conspiracy resulted in a civil war under the leadership of 
Renaudie ; but the traitors were defeated by the forces of the 
Duke of Guise, and the bloody demon of Puritanism was for 
the moment silenced. 

Again, in 1567, the Huguenots, under Conde, attempted 
treacherously and by force to seize upon the French king 
and court at Monceaux, but the attempt was thwarted and 
the king succeeded in escaping to Paris. Conde and his 
Calvinists pursued him to Paris, resolved to capture him at 
whatever cost of blood. But the friends of the king, under 
Montmorency, defeated him at St, Denis, and forced him to 
make peace in 1568. 

Again in 1568 and 1569, Conde and tlie Prince of Orange 
united their forces and attacked the Catholics with the ut- 
most ferocity. Among the results were the battles of Jar- 
nac, where Conde fell, and of Montcontour, under Coligny, 
in both of which engagements the Huguenots were defeated. 
After having inflicted upon France the greatest calamities 
for more than two years, and after almost incredible persccu- 
* " Histoire des Variations," vol. iv., p. 231. 



354 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

tions and cruelties against the Catholics who came within 
their power, a third treaty of peace was effected in 1570. 

But the seeds of hatred, discord, and violence had every- 
where been sown in France. Catholic and Puritan had alike 
hecome demoralized by scenes of violence and bloodshed. 
Sentiments of vengeance had been kindled in the hearts of men 
who should have been friends and brothers. Religious fanati- 
cism and intolerance had accomplished its congenial work, and 
fraternal hatred and thirst for revenge and blood ruled where 
love and charity should alone hold sway. While the pub- 
lic sentiment was thus temporarily debauched, and while the 
ignorant multitude were mad with angry passions which had 
been roused into activity by so many years of religious civil 
war, the unprincipled Catherine de Medicis, who had acted 
alternately with both parties, plotted and instigated the 
atrocious massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572. In this base 
attack, from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred Huguenots 
were killed, and the authors and abetters of the massacre de- 
serve and will receive the execration of all future ages. It 
was one of the terrible results arising out of the madness en- 
gendered by civil war, and all the blame belongs to the indi- 
viduals actually concerned. After the occurrence of the 
tragedy, ex parte reports were sent to all the European 
courts, declaring that the attack had been made to put down 
a Huguenot conspiracy to destroy the French court, and to 
usurp the government by force. Among other potentates, 
this representation was sent to Gregory XIII., who ordered 
a Te DeumXo be chanted at Rome for the supposed suj)pres- 
sion of a treasonable revolt to destroy the king and his court. 
Afterward, when the true facts were received, Gregory rep- 
robated the whole occurrence. But the Puritans have not 
failed to take advantage of this error to defame the Roman 
pontiff and the Church. 

We present a resume of the subject, by citing from Spauld- 
ing's History the brief summary of the Duke of Burgundy, 
the favorite disciple of Fenelon : " I do not speak of the 
calamities produced by the new doctrines in Germany, Eng- 



FEUITS OF THE EEFOEMATIOK m EUKOPE. 355 

land, Scotland, Ireland, etc. I speak of France. Nor shall I 
enumerate one by one the evils of which it was the theatre, 
and which are recorded in so many authentic documents : the 
secret assemblies ; the leagues formed with foreign enemies ; 
the attempts against the government ; the seditious threats, 
open revolts, conspiracies, and bloody wars ; the plundering 
and sacking of towns ; the deliberate massacres and atrocious 
sacrileges — suffice it to say, that from Francis I. to Louis 
XIV., during seven successive reigns, all these evils and 
many others, with more or less violence, desolated the French 
monarchy. This is a point of history which, although it 
may be variously related, can neither be denied nor called in 
question ; and it is from this capital point that we shall start 
in the political examination of this grand affair." * 

The Puritan system was introduced and established in 
Sweden by the Lutheran king Gustavus Yasa, aided by 
Olaus and Lawrence Petri, and other converts to the new 
doctrines. The means employed in reforming Sweden were 
not reason and argument, but bayonets in the hands of Ger- 
man and other foreign soldiers, a general robbery and ap- 
propriation of the property of the Church, and a long reli- 
gious reign of terror. In numerous instances the peasantry 
attempted to resist the gross outrages of the king against 
the ancient religion, and against their natural rights and 
privileges, but they were always summarily put down by 
the foreign mercenaries who served as the body-guard and 
instrument of the innovating monarch. The same disastrous 
results accompanied the Reformation in Sweden which had 
already been witnessed in Germany and Switzerland, viz., 
a universal deterioration of morals, religious skepticism, and 
fraternal hatreds, contentions, and civil strifes. 

The Puritan system was introduced into Denmark in 1522, 

'soon after the accession to the throne of Frederick I. Among 

the very first acts of this monarch was the entire subjection 

of the common people to the nobles, and through the latter 

class the accomplishment of the overthrow of the old religion, 

* "Hist, of tlie Prot. Ref.," p. S90. 



OOb CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

and the establishment of Luther anism in his kingdom. Ava- 
rice was at the bottom of the Reformation in Denmark, as 
the universal spoliation and robbery of the possessions of the 
Church, and of Catholics, for the benefit of king and nobles, 
abundantly prove. The most arbitrary violations of the 
rights of person and property were continually perpetrated 
under the reign of this partisan king, for the purpose of de- 
stroying Catholicism, of plundering her advocates, and of 
building up the new religion. The most sacred rights were 
set aside under various absurd pretexts, and supreme spiritual 
and temporal authority was usurped by a regal innovator for 
momentary wealtli and power. 

After the death of Frederick in 1533, his son Christian 
III., also a Lutheran, ascended the throne. This man com- 
pleted what his father had commenced — the entire robbery 
of the Church property, the destruction of the rights and 
privileges of the Catholic clergy, and the absolute subjec- 
tion of the people to the arbitrary wills of the nobles. 

Li 1536 ^N'orway was annexed to Denmark, By Christian 
III, by means of an army of Lutheran Danes, and her inhab- 
itants forced to accept the reformed religion. In the first in- 
stance, the people resisted these innovations in a body, but the 
swords of the Danes soon compelled •submission to both their 
religion and their government. Those who refused to renounce 
allegiance to Norway or to Catholicism were imprisoned, or 
forced to leave the country. 

About the middle of the sixteenth century the Danish 
king sent an army into his Catholic dependency, Iceland, and 
forced the unfortunate inhabitants to renounce their ancient 
religion, and to adopt the Puritan system, at the peril of 
their lives. 

The Scotch Reformation under Knox was inaugurated by 
riots, the destruction of Catholic churches and monasteries, 
and wanton abuse of monks and priests. Knox and his Puri- 
tanical followers traversed all Scotland with the Bible and 
predestination in one hand and a firebrand in the other. 
'Not only churches and monasteries were ruthlessly destroyed, 



FKUITS OF THE EEFOEMATION m EUROPE. 357 

but thousands of precious works of art, pictures and stat- 
ues, whicli had been accumulating for centuries, were in- 
volved in the common ruin. With the cry of " freedom of 
conscience, and religious liberty," ever on their lips, these 
early Calvinists everywhere destroyed the Catholic edifices, 
and prohibited the Catholic worship, under penalties of im- 
prisonment, confiscation of property, and death. 

We have already alluded to the demoralizing efiects of 
the religious innovations in England, and to the forcible sub- 
jection of the souls and bodies of the masses of the people to 
the arbitrary will of Henry. 

A notable characteristic of all the Reformations which 
have occurred from the days of Donatus and Manicheus to 
the present time, has been a spirit of discord and revolt, and 
a culmination in civil wars. The Protestant leagues of the 
sixteenth century were nothing more or less than warlike 
organizations instituted and perpetuated for the purpose of 
propagating the doctrines of the Reformation by arms. 
Every thing was accomplished under the pretext of religion ; 
while the entire spirit of their proceedings was in direct op- 
position to the merciful and beneficent precepts of the Prince 
of peace. 

It was in this spirit that Luther, Calvin, Zwinglius, Bucer, 
Karlstadt, John of Leyden, and the other innovators urged 
on their deluded followers to take up arms, and to pursue all 
who were opposed to them with fire and sword. It was in 
this spirit that Luther, in a sanguinary sermon which he 
preached in 1540, declared "that the pope was an enraged 
wolf, against whom it was the duty of all men to assemble 
and fight with arms, as well as against all princes who sus- 
tained him, not excepting the emperor himself" * 

Practically the teilets and tendencies of the Puritan sys- 
tem may be summed up as follows : Do you believe in justi- 
fication by faith alone, unaccompanied by good works ? If 
the response is in the affirmative, then go your way — you are 
among the elect of God, and you may lie, cheat, steal, bear 

* Disp. 1540, prop. 39, et seq. T., i., vid. Sleid. e. 16. 



358 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

false witness, murder — and, as Luther once remarked, 
'thougli you commit adultery a million times a day, your 
salvation is secure." 

Do you believe in predestination? If you do, then re- 
member that God alone is responsible for all that occurs to 
you in this world; that your destiny was foreordained and 
fixed before the world was created, and that any efibrts on 
your part, in the way of good works, are not only futile, but 
insulting to the Deity, who ordered all things in an immu- 
table manner, v/hen He conceived the grand design of the 
creation. All personal efforts, therefore, for the purpose of 
securing salvation, must be avoided as derogatory to the grace 
of God, presumptuous, and sinful. 

Do you believe that you are among the elect of God ? If 
you return an affirmative answer, then know that all the 
powers of earth or hell cannot change your happy destiny. 
You may commit every conceivable crime daily and hourly, 
with perfect impunity, because your salvation has been de- 
creed by the Almighty before your birth. If God has elect- 
ed you for salvation, you cannot possibly be damned ; there- 
fore take no thought or care for your life and conduct, but 
act out those natural propcDsities and desires which are im- 
planted within you, without fear or restraint. 

Do you believe in total depravity ? If you do, then know 
that all your inclinations and all the tendencies of your 
heart are evil ; that you cannot, of your own volition, harbor 
a good thought, or do a good act ; and that this malignant 
nature must always adhere to you and lead you to everlast- 
ing perdition, unless, by a special act of grace, your Creator 
has been merciful to you, and elected you from myriads of 
other helpless and condemned victims for salvation. In com- 
mon with all the posterity of Adam, you* were born totally de- 
praved, but the Author of your being, in His supreme caprice, 
has selected you from thousands of your unfortunate and 
helpless companions, for salvation ; while He leaves the others 
in their native depravity, for everlasting perdition. You are 
also bound to acknowledge that such a God is just and mer- 



FKUITS OF THE EEFOEMATION IN EUEOPE. 359 

ciM — a Being of infinite love and goodness ! You can afford 
this act of credulity, because individually you are all right — 
unlike other men — holier than the poor victims whom God 
has created for damnation. N^ever forget that all men are by 
nature totally depraved, and that it is in strict accordance 
with the divine intention that all sorts of sin, crime, and 
evil should abound. Beware, therefore, how you endeavor to 
interpose any ideas or any acts of your own, to thwart or 
change this foreordained and predestinated state of affairs. 
Beware, lest, by any personal act, or any good work, you 
should appear to detract from the will, the power, and the 
glory of the Supreme Architect. 

Do you believe that Calvin and Luther were the actual 
founders and establishers of God's Church on earth m the six- 
teenth century, and that they were elected by the Almighty to 
accomplish a work which Christ, the apostles, and their suc- 
cessors tried, but failed to accomplish f If you assent to this, 
then you are right in repudiating the terms Christian, Catho- 
lic, as well as the ancient doctrines and ceremonies which 
these terms imply, and in adopting the designations of Luther- 
ans, Calvinists, and the new theology and the peculiar morals 
inculcated by these real, these modern Christs, these practical 
Redeemers, these German Saviours, par excellence, of the Ref- 
ormation. Knock down and break in pieces the statues of 
Christ and of His holy mother, and the symbols of the cruci- 
fixion, with which Catholics have ornamented their churches, 
monasteries, and other institutions of worship and learning. 
Scoff at, and maltreat all priests, missionaries, monks, nuns, 
and sisters of charity, who presume to renounce the pleasures 
of the world and devote themselves to the exclusive service 
of God. Repeat to them the declaration of Luther, that man 
is so constituted by his Maker that he cannot resist the 
pleasures of sensual gratification, and that whoever asserts, 
or professes to practise the opposite of this, is a liar and a 
hypocrite. Theoretically, it is allowable to preach up an en- 
franchisement of the mind from all theological thraldom, 
especially when Catholic theology is in question ; but, ^j>rac- 



360 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

tically^ regard any one as a deadly enemy who does not pro- 
fess some one of the varieties of Puritanism, and pursue him 
even to the death with carnal weapons, if he persists in his op- 
position. Always remember that God is God, that Christ is 
the Son of God, but that either Luther or Calvin, or some 
other innovator, is His only real prophet, the only practical 
founder of the Church and of Christianity. It is doubtless 
well to remember that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, that 
He suifered and died to atone for the sins of men, and that 
He set a good example to man in His life and conduct ; but, 
when He attempted to found a Church, to lead it into all 
truth, and to send down the Holy Spirit to preside over it to 
the end of the world, so that the gates of hell should not 
prevail against it. He went too far — He made a mistake — He 
transcended His power ; in a word, He usurped the position 
and the functions which had been reserved from the be™- 

o 

ning of time for Martin Luther and his fellow-revolutionists 
of the sixteenth century ! 

Luther and his contemporary innovators claimed that 
they had been delegated by God to restore Primitive Chris- 
tianity as it had been taught and practised by Christ and 
the apostles. Let us examine briefly the merits of this im- 
portant assumption. 

What, then, did the Puritan system accomplish ? What 
primitive ideas, principles, and practices did it restore to 
mankind in the sixteenth century? In view of the brief 
citations from the writings of the Reformers in the prece- 
ding pages, the impartial historian would be compelled to de- 
clare that it restored all the dominant ideas, hypotheses, and 
practical workings of the pagan system of the Roman em- 
pire. The fundamental principles of the pagan system were' 
selfishness, love of power, riches, pomp, excitement, the pur- 
suit of pleasure, and a hatred and contempt for every thing 
which stood in the way of interest or passion. The pagan 
subjects of the Caesars delighted in wranglings, contentions, 
and bloody civil wars. For the glory of their system and 
of their nationality, they never hesitated to plunge the na- 






FEUITS OF THE EEFOEMATION IN EUEOPE. 361 

tions into cruel civil wars and to smite millions of innocent 
mortals witli the besom of destruction. Let the candid 
reader contrast the terrible principles and results of the Puri- 
tan system with those which obtained under the Roman em- 
pire, and he will be compelled to adtnit that Luther and his 
revolutionary imitators revived primitive Paganism, instead 
of primitive Christianity. Paganism was intolerant, arro- 
gant, cruel, grasping, ostentatious, ambitious, warlike, avari- 
cious, worldly : has Puritanism ever been behind her in these 
particulars ? The religion and the priesthood of Jesus were 
scoffed at, calumniated, and attacked by the pagans of the 
first three hundred years of the Christian era : the Puritans 
of the Reformation revived in all their original virulence 
the same scoffs, calumnies, and persecutions against the same 
religion, the same Church, and the same ecclesiastical body. 
The cultivated idolaters of the Augustan age were an enter- 
prising, thrifty, prosperous, and rich people : so, as a general 
rule, have been the advocates of Puritanism. In material 
prosperity, in worldly goods, in the rich treasures and luxu- 
ries of earth, the pantheistic patricians of the first three 
centuries of the Christian era were far ahead of the humble 
followers and disciples of Jesus Christ : nor have the Puritan 
fatalists of the past three centuries lagged behind their primi- 
tive prototypes in these respects. The highly cultivated 
patricians of the golden age recognized no other authority in 
religion or morals than their own personal opinions, desires, 
and inclinations : the followers of the Reformation also coin- 
cide with them fully in these sentiments. Roman civiliza- 
tion, up to the irruption of the barbarians into Europe, was 
almost exclusively manifested in material and worldly pros- 
perity, while morals and. manners were universally corrupt : 
Puritan civilization has ever developed itself in the same di- 
rection. 

There are also many striking points of resemblance be- 
tween the Puritan and Mohammedan systems, as well as be- 
tween their founders. The fundamental principles of both 
were emmenily fatalistic ; both innovators referred the sole 
16 



362 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

cause of all evil as well as of all good to the Almighty ; 
both denied the free agency of man ; both proclaimed them- 
selves special prophets and representatives of God; one 
claimed to have founded a religion de novo^ the other to have 
restored a lost religion ^nd a lost Church ; both propagated 
their doctrines by the sword ; the advance of both systems 
has always been accompanied by wars, cruelties, a deteriora- 
tion of morals, great destruction of life and property, and 
sometimes by the extermination of entire nations ; both men 
were bold and unscrupulous fanatics. Ffoulkes contrasts 
the two prophets thus : " Passing immediately from Moham- 
med to Luther, nobody can, I think, fail to be struck with 
the strange resemblance that there is of one to the other, 
.both as individuals, and in their relations to the age of the 
Church in which they lived. Luther did not set up as Anti- 
christ — far from it — nor Mohammed as Antichurch, at least 
in intention ; but as decidedly as Mohammed played the part 
of Antichrist in the East, Luther played the part of Anti- 
church in the West. . . . They both knew exactly what line 
to advocate, how far to go, and beyond what point they 
would not be followed. . . . Both Mohammed and Luther 
affected to have converse with spirits ; to be fighting for the 
integrity of the Scriptures ; to be waging a war, the one for 
God, the other for Christ alone. Both affected to be incul- 
cating a purer and holier standard than that of their own 
age ; Mohammed began life as a Ranyf^ a Reformer or Puri- 
tan ; it was that very title which was appropriated by Lu- 
ther, and by his predecessors, and by his followers from the 
first. But it was not long before Mohammed had carried 
polygamy in his own case to a point beyond what even East- 
ern manners v/onld tolerate ; and Luther, Melancthon, and 
Bucer disgraced themselves forever in the eyes of Europe by 
permitting the Landgrave of Hesse to take a second wife. 
Similarly both purported to be setting humanity free from 
bondage, while both advanced theories annihilative both of 
the freedom of the will, and of all moral responsibility. To 
be sure, fatalism in the West has been always much more 



FEUITS OF THE EEFOEMATIOK IN EUEOPE. 363 

speculated upon than acted upon ; in the East, so mucTi more 
prone to speculate than to practise, it has become the rule of 
life. Finally, as Mohammed had his rivals and opponents in 
the fanatics Al-Aswad and Moseilma, so Luther saw himself 
surpassed in violence by Munzer, John of Leyden, and the 
Anabaptists. As Mohammed had for his lieutenants Ali, 
Abubekr, Omar, and Othman, so Luther had for his fellow - 
Reformers Zwinglius and Bucer, Melancthon and Calvin. 
But the same animosities exhibited themselves sooner or 
later in both camps; and in the feuds between Sheeahs and 
Sunnees we may read a very counterpart to those disputes 
which arose between the Lutherans proper and the Re- 
formed." * 

The prominent idea of all the Puritans was the overthrow 
of the Catholic Church. To accomplish this object, every 
evil passion was invoked, the holy truths of Christianity 
were set at defiance, and warlike organizations were every- 
where established. The question was not. What is truth ? 
but What does the Catholic Church teach ? and all the pow- 
ers of the innovators were arrayed against the latter. This 
purely partisan idea has dominated over all the practical 
operations of the followers of the Reformation down to the 
present time. Although an immediate result of the Refor- 
mation was the division of Christendom into innumerable 
sects, each hating and contending against each other, yet 
this ruling idea was common to them all. In the midst of 
their fiercest struggles, they could always pause for the mo- 
ment, and combine their discordant forces, whenever a blow 
could be struck against the ancient Church. Upon this one 
point — hatred of the Church — ^the sects have always been in 
unison. 

We have seen that the innovators appealed to the baser 
portion of man's nature, and roused into activity emotions 
and passions which deluged the world with immorality, vice, 
and blood. For more than half a century their terrible doc- 
trines swept over the earth like a burning, blasting, deadly 

* "Christendom's Divisions" p. 119. 



364: CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

tornado, poisoning the fountains of religion and virtue, and 
developing in men every thing which is evil. They genera- 
ted among the nations of the world a kind of religious insan- 
ity, a fanatical frenzy, a raging madness, which could only 
be quelled by the sight of human misery and human blood. 
The numerous religious Avars which have occurred since the 
Reformation, and the cruel and sanguinary spirit which has 
always actuated the Puritans and their descendants, prove 
this. But it may be asserted that the nature of man revolts 
against such cruelties and such wholesale atrocities; yet 
when once the bad passions are fully aroused, and reason and 
conscience have been put to sleep, man is the most ferocious 
and cruel of all living animals. When these passions once 
gain headway, the mad torrent sweeps away and destroys 
every thing before it—conscience, religion, reason, humanity, 
mercy. The beast of prey attacks his fellow-beast only to 
satisfy the imperious cravings of hunger, and he employs 
only the claws and teeth which nature gave him as his weap- 
ons of attack. When hunger is appeased, the ferocious in- 
stinct ceases, and the animal reposes in quiet and content- 
ment. "No instinct of hatred or vengeance now animates 
him, and he lays no plans for future strife, rapine, and blood. 
But man fights not alone for sustenance, or in self defence, 
but for an idea, for conquest, riches, power, revenge, and 
thirst for the blood of his fellows. l!^or does he confine him- 
self to the weapons which nature gave him, but he invents 
and uses horrible implements of destruction, devised to mu- 
tilate, mangle, agonize, and kill his foes. Even after his an- 
tagonists are subdued, plundered, and captured, he still 
wreaks his vengeance by imprisonment, starvation, and pet- 
ty tortures. With diabolical ingenuity he now torments the 
minds as well as the bodies of his victims, and crushes out in 
anguish and despair the souls which a merciful God had giA-- 
en them. The lion, or the tiger, or the hyena, scorns thus to 
harbor revenge, or to mutilate, torture, and kill in mere wan- 
tonness after his hunger is satiated; but the intellectual 
beast of prey knows no bounds to his hatred, ferocity, or 



I 



FEUrrS OF THE EEFOEMATION IN EUEOPE. 365 

cruelty, when true religion sleeps, and Puritanical fanaticism 
takes possession of Mm. We know of no better illustration 
of these humiliating facts than the religious civil wars which 
have been instigated by the Reformers and their followers 
from the days of Luther, Calvin, and Zwinglius, to the pres- 
ent time. 'No one can contemplate the sanguinary and 
vengeful religious wars of the sixteenth century, incited and 
led on by those ancient Puritan " blood-hoimds of Zion," 
the terrible War of the Peasants ; the Seven Years' War ; the 
Thirty Years' War ; the religious wars of France, Denmark, 
Sweden, and Switzerland; the wars of John Knox in Scot- 
land, and of Oliver Cromwell in England, in which Europe 
was deluged in blood, without a deep and permanent con- 
viction of the truths herein expressed. No one can recall 
the tierce wars of the sanguinary Puritans of Massachusetts 
Bay against the simple and almost defenceless Indian tribes, 
and their final extermination, without shuddering at the 
dreadful depravity and cruelty of Puritan fanaticism. No 
one can recur to the sanguinary events of the past six years 
in this country, to the bitter sectional hatreds and wrang- 
lings, to the ruthless slaughter of so many countrymen and 
brethren, to the hundreds of Puritan pulpits desecrated by 
the mad ravings of partisan parsons, who have continually 
clamored for vengeance and for the blood of their erring 
brethren of the South, without ascribing to the modern fol- 
lowers of Luther and Calvin a diabolical spirit. ISTo one can 
contrast the teachings of these Reformed parsons with those 
of Christ and His apostles without concluding that the reign 
of the evil one is now upon us. 



CHAPTEE XXYII. 

THE PUEITAN SYSTEM IN AMERICA. 

In a previous chapter we have presented the theological 
tenets of the innovators of the sixteenth century, and traced 
their legitimate fruits throughout the various ramifications 
of European society. Wherever these doctrines have been 
introduced we have shown that there has been a general de- 
cline of the religious sentiment, and a universal deterioration 
of morals and manners. Among their baneful consequences, 
as we have seen, were the terrible religious wars which per- 
vaded Europe durmg the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- 
ries. We have demonstrated that a certain clearly defined 
system, embracing religion, morals, politics, and society, origi- 
nated directly from these novel dogmas. This system has 
been justly designated the Furitan System, We have 
already observed that the term Puritan originated with 
Mohammed, who called himself a Eanyf, i. e.,a Furitan, a 
Reformer, Luther and Calvin adopted this same title of 
Furitan, and many of their followers have since retained it. 

During the first fifty years of its existence this Puritan 
system exercised a controlling influence in Germany, Switzer- 
land, Sweden, Denmark, l^orway, Holland, and Scotland 
but the sad results to which it gave rise then brought about 
a general reaction, and many returned to the Catholic Church, 
while a still larger number became rationalists or atheists. 
But those who still remained within the Puritan fold were 



THE PUEITAN SYSTEM IN AMEEICA. 367 

energetic, bold, and untiring in their partisan efforts, and 
thus made amends for numerical losses. Since the com- 
mencement of the eighteenth century Puritanism has shared 
its influence in the countries enumerated, with its offspring. 
Rationalism. If its practical operations have been less per- 
nicious than during its first years, it is because a more con- 
servative public sentiment has restrained and circumscribed 
its natural tendencies. 

But it is an incontrovertible fact that, in every nation 
where the Puritan system has had full sway, a low grade of 
civilization has existed, intolerance and injustice have pre- 
vailed, and fraternal contentions and bloody civil wars have 
ultimately occurred. We have described in detail these results 
in Europe ; and we now propose to follow this system and 
its special guardians and perpetuators to the American con- 
tinent, and examine its influences in this new and rude field 
of labor. 

As our data respecting this influence of Puritanism in 
Europe have- been mostly derived from the writings of the 
Reformers themselves or their immediate friends, so have our 
facts with regard to its operations in America been taken ex- 
clusively from standard Protestant authorities. 

The Puritans have always boastingly professed to make 
the Bible their sole rule of faith and practice. We shall 
adopt the doctrines therein inculcated as our standard of 
comparison, and arraign the policy and the acts of the Pu- 
ritans of the United States before this divine standard. We 
shall ever keep prominently in mind those great fundamental 
principles of our Divine Master— brotherly love, charity, dis- 
interested benevolence, meekness, forgiveness, peace. From 
this divine stand-point we shall judge the motives and actions 
of those who, under the inspiration of the Puritan system, 
have thus far worked out the problem of civilization on this 
continent. 

We are aware that nearly all the Protestant and ration- 
alistic writers ignore this divine standard, and regard wealth 
and material prosperity as the only true criteria of civiliza- 



368 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

tion. Kot only do eminent Protestant historians and states- 
men like Macaulay, Guizot, Mill, and Bancroft, but distin- 
guished skeptical writers like Lecky, Buckle, Renan, Straass, 
Owen, and Parker regard wealth, industrial prosperity, and 
the social, intellectual, and sensual developments and gratifi- 
cations to which they give rise, as the only true bases of 
civilization. Political economy, material prosperity, and 
wealth are their ideals of power, excellence, and happiness. 
Poverty, self-denial, and an exclusive devotion to God and to 
suffering humanity, they look upon as degrading and con- 
temptible. According to these gentlemen, there can be no 
genuine civilization without an accumulation of capital. 
Money, thrift, political economy, a multiplication of desires 
and wants,- and individual gratification, are, according to 
them, the fundamental principles of civilization : while all 
those ideas and pursuits which are non-producers of capital 
are deemed unworthy of attention and useless. Puritanism 
and Rationalism have joined hands, and think and act in 
unison. They both discard the spiritual and aesthetic prin- 
ciples, and deify Materialism. Their political economy and 
their industrial philosophy may be summed up in the terms 
political expediency and worldly gain. The idea is well 
illustrated in the following citation from a recent popular 
and standard work on Rationalism : 

" What may be tetmed the ascetic and the industrial 
philosophies have at all times formed two of the most im- 
portant divisions of human opinions ; and as each brings with 
it a vast train of moral and intellectual consequences, their 
history touches almost every branch of intellectual progress. 
The watchword of the first philosophy is mortification ; the 
watchword of the second is development. The first seeks 
to diminish, and the second to multiply desires; the first, 
acknowledging happiness as a condition of the mind, endeav- 
ors to obtain it by acting directly on the mind, the second 
by acting on surrounding circumstances. The first, giving 
a greater intensity to the emotions, produces the most de- 
voted men ; the second, regulating the combined action of 



THE PUEITAN^ SYSTEM IN AMERICA. 369 

society, produces the highest social leyel. The first has 
proved most congenial to the Asiatic and Egyptian civiliza- 
tion, and the second to the civilizations of Europe Of 

this industrial civilization, political economy is the intellect- 
ual expression; and it is not too much to say, that it fur- 
nishes a complete theory of human progress directly opposed 
to the theory of asceticism. According to its point of view, 
the basis of all intellectual and social development is wealth ; 
for as long as men are so situated that all are obliged to la- 
bor for their sustenance, progress is impossible. An accumu- 
lation of capital is therefore the first step of civilization, and 
this accumulation depends mainly on the multiplication of 
wants Hence the dreary, sterile torpor that charac- 
terized those ages in which the ascetic principle has been su- 
preme, while the civilizations which have attained the high- 
est perfection have been those of ancient Greece and modern 
Europe, which were most opposed to it." * 

The monastic system is one of numerous Christianizing 
and civilizing appliances pertaining to the Church. The 
members of these monastic societies have not indeed adopted 
the " political economy " or the " industrial philosophies " 
of " modern Europe," or of " ancient [pagan] Greece and 
Rome ; " nor do they regard " wealth as the basis of all intel- 
lectual and social development ; " but the foundations of their 
political economy, and of their intellectual, social, and reli- 
gious philosophy, were laid by Jesus Himself when he indoc- 
trinated His disciples, in His sermon on the Mount, with the 
following divine precepts : 

" Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where 
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through 
and steal. 

" Btit lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where 
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not 
break through nor steal. 

"For wheji-e your treasure is, there will your heart be 
also. 

* Lccky, " Eationalism in Europe," vol. ii., pp. 347, 348, 350. 
16* 



370 CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

" ISTo man can serve two masters : for either he will hate 
the one, and love the other ; or else he will hold to the one, 
and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mam- 
mon." * 

Pagan Rome and Greece, as well as Judaic Galilee, re- 
garded wealth and the sensual gratification it commanded, 
whether intellectual, social, or physical, as the highest earthly 
good, the foundation of human progress and happiness, 
Lecky, and his fellow-rationalists, as well as the Puritan ele- 
ment of Europe and the United States, coincide in this pagan 
idea. Like their ancient prototypes, they value wealth for 
the new wants and desires it develops and gratifies, and for 
its general expansion of the area of human enjoyment, by the 
introduction of objects which appeal to the sensual, intellect- 
tual, and useful elements of man's nature. 

The ascetic philosophy, as Mr. Lecky is pleased to term it, 
is directly opposed to this idea, from the simple fact that its 
advocates are Christians, and not pagans. The Divine Mas- 
ter denounced the industrial philosophies of the Greeks, Ro- 
mans, and Jews, of His day, and presented to the world a 
more lofty standard of human development and progress. 
The humble advocates of the monastic system have simply 
adopted the code of Jesus, rather than that of " ancient 
Greece or modern Europe." These men did not regard the 
" multiplication of desires and wants " as the true " basis of 
intellectual and social development," or of the general prog- 
ress and welfare of mankind. In one sense, the " watchword 
of their philosophy was mortification;" but in the main, their 
watchword was " development." Their philosophy morti- 
fies the unruly passions and desires of the heart, but it de- 
velops the sentiment of love to God and man, and the elevat- 
ing emotions, afiections, and aspirations which result from 
this sentiment. It ranks intellectual, moral, and social treas- 
ures much higher than treasures of gold and silver. It cul- 
tivates the spiritual more than the physical man. It directs 
attention more to the future than to the present. 
* Matthew vi. 19-24-. 



THE PUEITAN SYSTEM IN AMEEICA. 371 

The watchword of the Rationalistic and Puritan philoso- 
phy is also " development " — -hut, of what ? Of the peculiar 
material civilization of pagan Rome and Greece ; the deifica- 
tion of wealth ; the cultivation and gratification of sensual 
desires and wants as the ultimate end of life ; the subordina- 
tion of the spiritual to the physical element. 

But let it not be forgotten that the monastic system 
is only one of the many elements of Catholicism. These 
organizations were founded to enable individuals to devote 
themselves more completely to the service of God. Their 
rules inculcate self-abnegation, and a surrender of both mind 
and body to the cause of religion. The beneficent influences 
of these organizations have been inestimable ; for they have 
been employed by the Church as vanguards in propagating 
Christianity, and in diifusing the blessings of civilization 
among the nations of the world. In this connection, we can- 
not do better than to allow Mr, Lecky to aid us in the refu- 
tation of some of his own calumnies against the Church, and 
her ascetic and other organizations. "By consolidating," 
says Lecky, " the heterogeneous and anarchical elements that 
succeeded the downfall of the Roman empire, by infusing into 
Christendom the conception of a bond of unity that is superior 
to the divisions of nationhood, and of a moral tie that is supe- 
rior to force, by softening slavery into serfdom, and preparing 
the way for the ultimate emancipation of labor, Catholicism 
laid the very foundations of modern civilization. Herself 
the most admirable of all organizations, there was formed 
beneath her influence a vast network of organizations, polit- 
ical, municipal, and social, which supplied a large proportion 
of the materials of almost every modern structure." * 

Adopting this industrial philosophy, nearly all the dis- 
tinguished authors to Avhom we have alluded have drawn 
certain comparisons between Catholic and Protestant com- 
munities, and their conclusions have been in favor of the 
civilization of the latter. Thus, Macaulay has contrasted the 
United States and Mexico ; Italy and Scotland j Spain and 

* " Rationalism in Europe," vol. ii., p. 3Y. 



372 



CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 



Holland; Prussia and Ireland, etc. Candor should have in- 
duced this eminent author to have made more equal and just 
comparisons, as France with England; Belgium with Hol- 
land ; Austria with Prussia ; Sardinia and Spain with Swe- 
den and Denmark ; Mexico, Peru, and Brazil with the Sand- 
wich Islands and other recently converted nations. By such 
a classification he could have brought together for compari- 
son peoples of similar natural and acquired mental capacities, 
and possessing similar advantages for acquiring knowledge 
and skill in the useful and ornamental arts. How unjust to 
contrast the Anglo-Saxon of the United States with the 
recently converted Aztec of Mexico, or with the descendants 
of the native Indians of Peru and Brazil ! How unfair to 
compare the subjugated and oppressed inhabitants of Italy 
and Ireland with the comparatively free and independent 
peoples of Scotland, Germany, and Switzerland ! We shall 
allude to this subject again, and institute some just compari- 
sons. 

When Anaxagoras, the master of Socrates, was once ac- 
cused of not having sufficient love for his country because 
he did not take an active part in political affairs, the philoso- 
pher thus replied: " Be silent, my friend, I love my country 
most dearly,'' pointing to heaven. The true Catholic also 
always looks upward for the goal of his highest aspirations 
and hopes, and for his permanent abiding-place. If, there- 
fore, he is sometimes behind his Puritanical and Eationalistic 
neighbors in the race for wealth and worldly influence, it is 
because he regards heaven and not earth as his permanent 
home. 

ISTo investigator of history will deny the fact that Catholic 
civilization, when brought to bear upon heathen nations, has 
always Christianized them, elevated them morally, socially, 
and physically, and preserved them as oiations. It will also 
be conceded, that whenever and wherever Puritan civiliza- 
tion has been brought to bear upon the heathen, it has either 
confirmed them in their idolatry, or driven them to atheism; 
that it has developed in them evil propensities, evil passions. 



THE PURITAN SYSTEM IN AMERICA. 3Y3 

new and previously unknown vices, and, finally, either par- 
tially or totally exterminated them from the earth. The his- 
tory of missions in China, Japan, India, Ceylon, Africa, Aus- 
tralia, the islands of the Pacific, and in I^ortli and South 
America, demonstrates these facts conclusively. 

Marshall, in his " Christian Missions," after presenting a 
vast array of historical facts derived from authentic Protes- 
tant sources, upon the subject of missions in all parts of the 
world, thus w^rites : " We have not debated claims or doc- 
trines which a text may prove or disprove, but we have con- 
templated the Church and the sects in action. This is the 
test, complete and decisive, which was indicated by our Lord 
Himself, and we have seen what it has revealed. Every- 
where He has manifested, by manifold and persuasive tokens. 
His unceasing presence with the Church; everywhere He 
has refused so much as to recognize, except in anger, the 
barren ministry of the sects. In presence of such fiicts, uni- 
form in their character and universal in their range, we may 
not unreasonably ask our Protestant adversaries whether 
they expect us any longer to treat seriously pretensions 
which history has disposed of, and which God has judged 
before our eyes." * In the " Works of W. E. Channing," 
p. 275, we find the following tribute to the ancient Church : 
" Her missionaries, who have carried Christianity to the ends 
of the earth ; her Sisters of Charity, who have carried relief 
and solace to the most hopeless want and pain ; do not these 
teach us that in the Romish Church the Spirit of God has 
found a home ? " 

In alluding to the influences of the two religious systems 
upon civilization, we have seen that Protestants boastingly 
contrast the United States with Mexico. They point to the 
great emporiums of commerce, to the majestic public and 
private edifices, to the multitude of manufactories, steam- 
ships, railroads, and other indications of wealth and pros- 
perity which are everywhere to be found in the Anglo-Saxon 
Union, and then to the more modest pretensions of Catholic 
* Yol. i., p. 452. 



374 CHRISTIANITT AKD ITS CONFLICTS. 

Mexico, ill proof of the superiority of Protestant over Catho- 
lic civilization. This superficial view involves a monstrous 
fallacy, and covers over some of the most gigantic national 
crimes on record. Let us briefly glance at a few of the facts 
connected with the settlement and the civilization of the two 
countries. 

When Mexico was first colonized by the Catholics, and 
North America by the Puritans, each country was inhabited 
by many millions of the original owners and natives of the 
soil. In Mexico the hardy adventurers and pioneers were 
always accompanied by priests and missionaries, who were 
instructed by the Spanish king and queen, and by the Roman 
pontiff, to devote their entire energies to the conversion of 
the natives to Christianity, and to guard them as much as 
possible from the abuses and wrongs of mercenary adven- 
turers. History tells how well these works were performed 
by such devoted men as the Dominican and Franciscan 
priests and missionaries Las Casas, Zumarraga, Martin de 
Valencia, Francisco de Soto, Toribio, Motolinia, Peter of 
Ghent, Domingo de Betanzos, Ortiz, Julian Garces, and 
numerous others. History informs us that these wild natives 
were taught the arts of civilized life, were induced to aban- 
don their ancient and bloody superstitions, to adopt the 
habits, customs, and mode of life of their new teachers, and 
pastors, and to offer up their prayers daily to the true God. 
History also teaches us that their descendants still live in the 
land of their heathen ancestors — a Christianized, civilized, 
growing, and moderately prosperous nation. Six millions 
of these Christianized descendants of the heathen, idol-wor- 
shipping Aztecs now own and inhabit the territories of their 
fathers, are in the enjoyment of all the comforts and ap- 
pliances of civilized life, and they regard with love and ven- 
eration the glorious Church and priesthood which rescued 
them from barbarism, and placed them among the civilized 
nations of the earth. It is quite true that this Mexican In- 
dian race is inferior by nature to the Anglo-Saxon or the 
Frank It is quite true that the children of those who were 



THE PUEITAI^ SYSTEM IK AMERICA. 375 

rude savages only a few generations ago have not the intelli- 
gence, or the energy, or the enterprise of the shrewd, money- 
loving Puritan. It is quite true that the souls of these sim- 
ple-minded children of Montezuma are not wholly absorbed 
in the love of gain, and of worldly pride and ambition; but, 
nevertheless, they live^ and can look upon the consecrated 
graves of their fathers back to the days of Cortez; they 
still Uve^ and can worship, in spirit and in truth, the God 
who created them and gave them their country; they still 
live, and can behold cities, towns, churches, schools, and cul- 
tivated fields where their fathers only saw dense forests and 
savage wildernesses ; they still live, and bless the Church 
and the priests who have been their preservers and bene- 
factors. 

When 'New England was first colonized by the Puritans 
they were likewise accompanied by Calvinistic ministers. In 
no sense were these men missionaries, or friends of the In- 
dians. They always resided in the settlements, and never 
went out boldly to dwell with the savages — to teach and to 
convert them, as has ever been the habit of the Catholic 
missionary at all times and in all parts of the world. Their 
chief efforts in behalf of the natives consisted in plying them 
with Calvinistic ideas of predestination, the justification of 
the elect, and jSTew England rum, whenever they came into 
the settlements, and in threatening them with terrible punish- 
ments here and hereafter if they refused to accept them. 
These early Puritans cared not for the souls of the poor 
aborigines ; but they coveted their lands, and their persons 
as slaves. We shall presently show how, step by step, the 
Puritans corrupted, perverted, wronged, robbed, enslaved, 
and finally exterminated the Indians of the Eastern States. 
Kot a single descendant of the original Eastern tribes 7iow 
lives to bless the day when the Puritans landed at Plymouth 
Rock. Not a single representative of the confiding and hos- 
pitable chiefs and warriors who welcomed, fed, and shel- 
tered the wretched pilgrims of the Mayflower, noio lives to 
thank the God of the Christian for the inestimable boon of 



376 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Christianity and civilization. I^ot a single remnant of a 
once noble race can now be found to illustrate the beneficent 
workings of the Puritan system from a Christian or humani- 
tarian point of view. The pantheistic goddess of riches now 
presides over the lands which were once the hunting-grounds 
of the poor Indian; and his plundered and exterminated 
people sleep deeply in the bowels of the earth, their graves 
unknown and unnoted except by the Great Spirit, who will 
one day judge the two races, the exterminators and the ex- 
terminated, face to face. 

Thus we may readily understand why the United States is 
more prosperous, in a material point of view, than Mexico. 
The Puritans of the ISTorth have annihilated the Indian race 
of the Eastern States from off the earth, and have taken pos- 
session of their vast territories ! Enriched by this plundered 
soil, and having obliterated even the very graves of the 
extinct nations, these Puritan civilizers made rapid prog- 
ress in agriculture, in manufactures, in commerce, and in 
the arts. The Puritan parson can point with complacency to 
the wealth and culture of Protestant America ; but can he 
show us any of the descendants of the millions of human 
beings from whom this wealth has been Avrested ? The rob- 
ber and the pirate may revel in pomp and luxury, from gold 
and riches which have been torn from murdered victims; but 
retribution comes sooner or later. The Romans of the Au- 
gustan age could point with pride to their works of art, sci- 
ence, and literature ; but they were idolaters, libertines, and 
monsters in sin and crime. So may the Puritan of this cen- 
tury point to what he is pleased to term the advanced civili- 
zation of the United States ; but this peculiar civilization has 
been achieved hy the wanton destruction and robbery of entire 
nations of simple and naturally harmless creatures of God. 

Catholics can refer with pride and a good conscience to 
the six millions of Mexicans who have been converted from 
barbarism to Christianity and civilization, as well as to the 
many millions of converted natives, who, during the past two 
centuries, have gone in peace to the land of spirits to await 



THE PURITAN SYSTEM IN AMERICA. 377 

tlieir final judgment ; but where are the descendants of the six 
millions of the North American Indians who once owned and 
inhabited the United States ? Upon the souls of the Puri- 
tans must forever rest the deliberate, heartless, damninar 
crime of exterminating these millions of fellow-men whom 
they might have converted, civilized, saved. No pretext, no 
sophistry, can ever palliate in the slightest degree this crime 
of crimes. 

While the Catholic priests and missionaries of Mexico 
were converting its pagan inhabitants to Christianity, and 
teaching them agriculture and the useful arts, the Puritan 
parsons of New England were aiding and abetting their 
flocks to destroy the Mohegans, the Narragansets, Pequods, 
Abenakis, and other neighboring tribes, with fire and sword, 
as we shall soon show. 

The practical fruits of the two civilizations are as follows : 
In Mexico, a living nation of Christianized and civilized 
natives of the soil ; and in the United States, a new and 
thrifty race of foreign plunderers who stalk and riot proudly 
over the crumbling bones of those whom their peculiar civil- 
ization has annihilated in their heathenism and idolatry. 
The natives of both countries were naturally inferior to the 
European strangers who landed on their shores, and this very 
inferiority placed them in the power of the latter, to serve, 
elevate, and Christianize them, or to betray, rob, and destroy 
them. Let the impartial reader contemplate the past and 
present situation of the two countries, and judge between 
them. 

In order to demonstrate clearly our position respecting 
the influence of Puritan civilization upon the aborigines of 
the Eastern States, we present a summary of facts, derived 
chiefly from the " Colonial Records of Massachusetts Bay," 
Barry's " History," Bancroft's " History," and other standard 
Protestant sources. 

It is now nearly two hundred and fifty years since the 
Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock. They found themselves 
strangers upon a vast continent, owned and populated by mil- 



378 CHEISTIAmTY AI^D ITS CONFLICTS. 

lions of ignorant and simple-minded red men. These primi- 
tive natives and proprietors of tlie continent worshipped the 
only God they had ever heard or thought of, in simplicity 
and in truth. Their laws were simple, practical, and admii- 
ably adopted to their limited wants and desires. With but 
few acquired and artificial tastes, and no ambition beyond 
excelling in war or the chase, these red men of nature lived 
and acted in accordance with the knowledge and experience 
which their Creator had given them. The white man of 
civilized Europe worshipped the Triune God with the lights 
of Christianity and civilization before him, but daily and 
hourly violated to a greater or less extent the divine com- 
mandments. The untutored Indian adored the Great Spirit 
who had created him, reasoned and acted in accordance with 
the intelligence he had received, and, with but few vices and 
few faults, accomplished his earthly destiny. If the civilized 
white man possessed knowledge and was skilled in the arts 
and sciences, he was also selfish, mercenary, and self-indul- 
gent. The red man was ignorant, rude, and primitive in all 
things, but he was hospitable, truthful, brave, and for the 
most part unselfish. 

In every instance where the aborigines had not come in 
contact with the white man, and was ignorant of his vices, 
he was confiding, hospitable, docile, and easily subjected to 
Christianizing and civilizing influences. In most cases he 
regarded the white strangers as superior beings — children of 
the sun, and possessing supernatural powers. Every senti- 
ment of his nature prompted him, therefore, to cultivate the 
closest relations of amity and trust with his powerful guests. 
The native savage was not naturally vicious or selfish. His 
religious, moral, and social principles might all have been 
comprised within a short paragraph, and yet he fully recog- 
nized the superintending power of the Great Spirit, and the 
mutual rights and obligations pertaining to individuals and 
communities. If he gave way to anger and vengeance, it 
was always the result of a supposed insult or wrong. This 
sensitiveness to injury aud wrong, a belief in the stern neces- 



THE PUEITAN SYSTEM IN AI»IEEICA. 379 

sity of redressing thein hj bloodslied, were sentiments ever 
deeply rooted in the Indian breast. To excel in war and in 
the chase, and to wreak vengeance upon his enemies, were 
three cardinal virtues of the ITorth American savage, and he 
would shrink from no danger, no exposure, no suffering in the 
accomplishment of his purposes. But the duties of hospitality 
and the private and public weal of those with whom he was 
at peace, w^ere scrupulously respected. 

It is commonly asserted that the Indian is naturally cruel 
and bloodthirsty ; but history does not confirm this assertion. 
In making up an estimate of the Indian character, let it not 
be forgotten that all our records and data are exparte^ and 
from the stand-point of the white man. Could some native 
historian portray the monstrous wrongs and cruelties which 
were perpetrated upon his confiding and simple people, when 
the first white adventurers landed upon different portions of 
the continent, he would rouse the horror and indignation of 
the whole civilized world. If the Indian has become savage 
and revengeful, the treachery and outrages of the white man 
have made him so. If undying liatred rankles in the breasts 
of the now powerless remnant of the red man, the cause lies 
at the doors of their white oppressors. 

In illustration of the accuracy of the statements here ad- 
vanced, we cite the following historical facts : 

In 1492 Columbus discovered America. Wherever he 
landed he found the natives confiding, kindly disposed, and 
hospitable. They regarded the white stranger as superior 
beings who had came among them for their good, and they 
welcomed them with rude tokens of affection and fraternity. 

Soon after the discovery of Columbus, according to Ban- 
croft, " a throng of adventurers eagerly engaged in voyages 
to explore the New World, or to plunder its inhabitants." 
In 1524, when John Verazzani landed on the coast of jN"orth 
Carolina, the natives, dressed in skins, received him with 
pleasure and hospitality, " as they had not yet learned to fear 
the white man. The savages were more humane than their 
guests. A young sailor, who had nearly been drowned, 



380 CHEISTIAKITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

was revived by the courtesy of the natives ; while the voy- 
agers robbed a mother of her child, and attempted to kidnap 
a young woman." * 

:N"umerous facts might be adduced to the same purport. 
Among the natural traits of the native Indian, were simplici- 
ty, truthfulness, frankness, hospitality, sentiments of friend- 
ship and gratitude, and ambition to be a great hunter and 
warrior. Had these natural traits been properly cultivated 
and developed by the first colonizers of America, the Indian 
would have been Christianized, civilized, and elevated in the 
scale of humanity. Had Christian love and simple justice 
been brought to bear, instead of plunder, deception, and out- 
rage, an entire continent of God's creatures might have been 
reclaimed to Christianity, civilization, and happiness, and a 
noble race been perpetuated. 

When the Huguenots, under the auspices of Coligny and 
Laudonniere, established themselves in Carolina in 1564, their 
intercourse with the natives was characterized by continual 
acts of cruelty, oppression, injustice, theft, and murder. 

Sir Walter Ealeigh sent his colony to the 'New World in 
1584. "After they had landed on the island of Roanoke," 
says Bancroft, "they were entertained by Granganimeo, the 
mother of the king ; and the people were most gentle, lovinc^, 
and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and such as live'cl 
after the manner of the golden age." Two years after the 
landing of this colony, an act of unparalleled atrocity was per- 
petrated upon the unoffending Indians by the English. Ban- 
croft relates the facts of the case as follows : "Kalph Lane, 
one of Raleigh's agents in Carolina, on one occasion invited 
Wingina, a powerful native king, and his followers, to a con- 
ference with himself and his English friends. The Indians 
quietly and peacefully granted the request, and presented 
themselves at the appointed time. No sooner had they as- 
sembled, than a signal was given by Lane, and the unhappy 
king and his principal followers were put to death without 
mercy." f 

* Bancroft's " Hist, of United States," vol. i., p. 16. f Ibid., vol. i., p. 100. 



THE PUEITAN SYSTEM IN AMEKICA. 381 

In 1637 the Pequod tribe, numbering more than seven 
hundred warriors, besides many women and children, and in- 
habiting the banks of the Mystic Kiver in Connecticut, were 
stealthily attacked by the Puritan Christians under John 
Mason, and by fire and sword were nearly exterminated. The 
few hundreds who survived the carnage were made slaves by 
their civilized conquerors. How wonderful the progress of 
Puritan civilization in these early days of the nation ! 

A favorite mode of these ancient " blood-hounds of Zion," 
of ridding the territory of their wild neighbors, was to incite 
one tribe against another^ in order that they might destroy 
each other. N"ot unfrequently they would ally themselves 
temporarily with a particular band, and aid them in the work 
of extermination. Thus the Puritans of Massachusetts and 
Connecticut incited the Mohegans against the Narragansets 
in 1643, to the serious injury of both tribes, and by treacher- 
ously delivering up the great chief of the latter, Miantono- 
moh, to Uncas, for execution, destroyed their power as a 
tribe. 

Massasoit, the great chief of the ISTarragansets, first wel- 
comed the Pilgrims to Il^ew England, and gave them food, 
shelter, and protection in their dire necessities. Had they 
been brothers instead of strangers, the noble monarch of the 
forest could not have displayed more friendship, sympathy, 
and kindness than he spontaneously tendered to the starving 
immigrants. As a Christian reciprocation of this savage 
affection and hospitality, the Puritans, in 1676, having now 
become powerful, attacked King Philip, son of their early 
benefactor, and then chief of the Narragansets, and killed 
him with nearly all his tribe. Another characteristic in- 
stance of Puritan civilization and gratitude. 

Bancroft details the circumstances of another atrocious 
crime committed by the Dutch Calvinists of IsTew York in 
1643, at the instigation of their infamous director-general, 
Kieft. " In the stillness of a dark winter's night, the soldiers 
at Fort Orange, joined by freebooters from Dutch privateers, 
and led by a guide who knew every by-path and nook where 



382 CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

the savages nestled, crossed the Hudson, for the purpose of 
destruction. The naked and unsuspecting tribes could offer 
little resistance ; the noise of musketry mingled with the yell 
of the victims. E"early a hundred perished in the carnage. 
Daybreak did not end its horrors ; men might be seen man- 
gled and helpless, suffering from cold and hunger; children 
were tossed into the stream, and as their parents plunged to 
their rescue, the soldiers prevented their landing, that both 
child and parent might droAvn." * 

From this, and many other examples which might be ad- 
duced, it will be observed that the baneful influences of Cal- 
vinistic colonization are not confined to any particular na- 
tionality or location. 

The government of E'ew England treacherously seized a 
number of the chiefs of the Abenakis in 1721, and held them 
arbitrarily as hostages. A ransom was paid for them by 
their brethren, and a solemn promise was made to deliver 
them up, but they were nevertheless retained by the faithless 
whites. This violation of faith excited sentiments of indig- 
nation among the Indians, and a war was the result. 

In 1722 the same government publicly offered a bounty 
of one hundred pounds for every Indian scalp delivered to 
them. In 1724 New England Christians made an attack 
upon the Indians at Old Town, and, among other atrocities, 
murdered and mutilated Sebastian Rasles, a venerable mis- 
sionary, aged sixty-seven years. Father Rasles had been a 
faithful and devoted missionary among the savages for more 
than thirty-seven years ; but he was a Catholic, which was 
a deadly sin in the eyes of the Puritans. 

From these extracts it will be observed that elements of 
distrust were generally infused into the minds of the Indians 
by the earliest Puritan discoverers and colonizers. Contact 
with the strangers always revealed selfishness, avarice, injus- 
tice, cruelty. The hunting-grounds, the lakes, and the rivers 
which had been given them by the Great Spirit for their sus- 
tenance and pleasure, and which they had enjoyed without 
* " History of the United States," vol. ii., p. 290. 



THE PUEITAiq- SYSTEM m AMERICA. 883 

interruption from time immemorial, were successively wrest- 
ed from them by the new-comers at the point of the bayonet, 
while they were steadily driven back to seek new hunting- 
grounds, and perhaps to perish from exposure and hunger. 
An exception, however, to this rule of oppression and out- 
rage may be found in the Catholic colony of Maryland, under 
the auspices of Lord Baltimore, and his brother, Sir John 
Calvert. Instead of the religious intolerance and persecution 
which characterized the Puritan colony already established 
in Virginia, the settlers of Maryland cordially invited men 
of all religious and political sects to take up their abode with 
them, guaranteeing them by laws and statutes entire reli- 
gious toleration, and equal rights with themselves. Toward 
the neighboring tribes of Indians they were ever just, kind, 
and disinterested. Instead of oppressing, plundering, and 
alienating them, as their Virginia neighbors had done, they 
won them to peace and fraternity, by words of love and 
deeds of charity. Such was the condition of many of the 
tribes of the Atlantic coast at this early period. 

The steps of Puritan civilization have ever been marked 
by intolerance, injustice, and bloodshed. Under the Phari- 
saical cloak of superior morality and religion, these men have 
always been energetic in discharging simultaneously bigoted 
sermons from their mouths, and bullets from their rifles, at 
the poor Indians ; and history teaches that the latter have 
done nearly all the execution. Steadily has the white 
man trampled upon the rights of the aborigines. Day by 
day have their people and their lands diminished, until they 
scarcely have a foothold upon the continent. Even now the 
few poverty-stricken and scattered remnants of the original 
and real owners of the country are robbed of their annual 
pittances, and massacred in cold blood, by the rapacious 
agents of the Puritanical rule and civilization of 1867. A 
reference to recent official developments of the Indian Bu- 
reau respecting the Western Indians, and to the general sys- 
tem of robbery by Indian agents, will verify our assertion. 

So far as the red man is concerned, what has the boasted 



384 CHRISTIAICnTY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

civilization of Puritanism in ISTorth America accomplished ? 
Has the religious, social, moral, or physical condition of 
these millions of the original natives and owners of the soil 
been ameliorated by the presence and practical operation of 
this thrifty civilization ? Have the Indians increased and 
multiplied, have their spears and tomahawks been converted 
into implements of husbandry, their rude superstitions and 
practices changed for Christian maxims and Christian love 
and fraternity, and themselves, as a race, elevated in the 
scale of humanity ? Let the handful of haggard, demoral- 
ized, and inebriate red men, scattered here and there through- 
out our vast continent, and the score or two of graves of their 
nearly extinct race, answer. And let the white man of the 
United States blush with shame when he prates of Christian 
civilization and human progress. 



CHAPTEE XXYIII. 

PUEITAN INTOLERANCE. 

The Pilgrims and their descendants have always declared 
that the Calvinists were forced to leave England and seek a 
home in the N"ew World in consequence of the persecutions 
of the Anglican Church, and their irrepressible yearning 
after " freedom of mind," " freedom of conscience," and " re- 
ligious toleration." That the minds of men might become 
enfranchised from the tyrannies of Church and State, these 
innocent Calvinistic lambs were willing to sunder the tender 
ties of home and kindred, and to brave the perils of the sea, 
of the wilderness, and of the savage. Under the pretence 
of a simple and earnest desire to worship God, and to practise 
and promulgate the beneficent doctrines of Jesus of Nazareth 
among the wild children of a wild continent, these religious 
pioneers abandoned the comforts and security of the Old 
World for the privations and dangers of the IsTew one. What 
afield for Christianity, for philanthropy, and the arts of civil- 
ization ! What a glorious opportunity to " preach the gos- 
pel to every creature," to teach and practise the heavenly 
virtues of universal love, charity, justice, and fraternity, and 
by words and deeds of sympathy and mercy to win the rude 
natives of a vast continent into the fold of Christian brother- 
hood and peace ! 

These men had personally experienced the trials and in- 
conveniences of Anglican intolerance, and could therefore 
17 



386 CnEISTIANITY AND ITS CO:JTrLICTS. 

fully appreciate the blessings of religions liberty in their new 
home. They had been persecuted by a dominant sect for 
opinion's sake, and it was to be presumed that they would 
carry with them to America principles of religious toleration, 
and equal and exact justice to all men. With such large 
professions of Christian zeal and moral purity, it was natural 
to suppose that the divine precepts of Christ and His apos- 
tles would govern them in the foundation and establishment 
of their colony. Professing perfect faith in the Holy Scrip- 
tures, advocates of private interpretation, and recognizing 
their sacred teachings as the only true rule of faith and prac- 
tice, it was a legitimate inference that these persecuted exiles 
would carry with them principles and practices more conso- 
nant with liberty, progress, and happiness. 

The ostensible motives of the Pilgrims for leaving Eng- 
land and seeking a new home in a distant wilderness were 
highly commendable. Subjects of a monarch who claimed 
and exercised absolute temporal and spiritual power within 
his dominions, freedom of conscience violated by stern penal 
enactments, and the observance of religious duties punished 
by imprisonment or death, it was praiseworthy in the Cal- 
vinists of England to abandon their native land, and to seek 
a new continent, where religious tolerance and universal jus- 
tice might obtain. It was heroic as well as commendable to 
sunder all ties of nationality, kindred, and friendship, and to 
encounter the perils of a long voyage and an unknown wil- 
derness for opinion's sake. It was philanthropic to wish and 
to intend to carry to the savages of North America the 
Christian religion, and to elevate them from barbarism to 
Christianity and civilization. Were these excellent ideas 
and intentions consummated? Was the golden rule of 
Christ — " Do unto others as ye would that they should do 
unto you" — the rule of faith and action with these early 
colonizers of America ? Let the facts of history ansv/er ! 

During the first quarter of a century after the Pilgrims 
of the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts, on the 11th of 
December, 1620, the progress of the colony was slow, and 



PTJEITAlsr mTOLEEANCE. 387 

prodtictive of but few important results. The dangers and 
difficulties of the enterprise, the numerical inferiority of the 
whites compared with the savage tribes in their vicinity, 
and the almost entire lack of remunerative productions, 
served to restrain their ambition and their natural instincts 
within reasonable bounds during the first three decades of 
their settlement. At the expiration of ten years the colony 
contained only about three hundred souls; and for many 
subsequent years but few immigrants arrived. During the 
first thirty years of this pioneer life the Pilgrims vented their 
exuberant zeal in adding to their territorial possessions, in 
establishing new plantations in various colonies, and in 
thanking God that they were not like other men. Fp to 
this period no one had expressed a doubt respecting a single 
article of the Calvinistic creed; no one had presumed to ex- 
tend his thoughts beyond the " five points " of Calvin ; no 
one had dreamed that he was not included among the " pre- 
destinated and elect of God." Thus far religious intolerance 
had nothing to feed on. As yet there were no Quakers, no 
Baptists, no Catholics, no Anglicans, no Independents, no 
Unitarians, no witches in the colony. 

In 1629 the reign of Puritanical intolerance commenced. 
It appears that two brothers, John and Samuel Browne, 
made their appearance at Salem, who supported the liturgy 
of the Anglican Church, and refused to conform to the Cal- 
vinistic tenets, which the Puritan pastors, Skelton and Hig- 
ginson, had imposed upon the churches as their rule of faith 
and practice. For this freedom of opinion they were de- 
nounced as traitors, their worship prohibited as mutinous, 
and themselves banished to England. They were the '' cop- 
perheads" of 1629 — " disunionists " and " disloyalists "—be- 
cause opposed to the intolerance and radicalism of the early 
Puritans. 

In 1631 a lavf was enacted, by the Puritans of Boston 
and Salem, that no one should be allowed to exercise the 
rights of citizenship, to vote, to hold ofiice, or have any 
voice in political matters, who was not a member of one of 



388 CHEISTTAlSTrT AKD ITS CONFLICTS. 

the Calvinistic churches. These original iutolerants of Mas- 
sachusetts not only insisted that every man in their midst 
should believe in their peculiar religious doctrines, but that 
every one should contribute to sustain them, and attend 
regularly at public worship, l^o outside ideas and no cere- 
monies were permitted. A token of respect to' the Saviour, 
or a memento of His passion and crucifixion, would have 
consigned the unfortunate non-conformist to a prison or to 
banishment. 

In 1631 Roger Williams, the friend and pupil of Sir Ed- 
ward Coke, landed in Boston. He was an advocate of entire 
liberty of thought and of free speech. With such sentiments, 
he refused to conform to the tenets of the Puritans, and per- 
sisted in announcing his own opinions. Several times he was 
invited to act as pastor in Boston and Salem, but through 
the efforts of the Puritan pastors he was prohibited from ac- 
cepting the invitations ; and finally, in 1636, after great perse- 
cutions and personal annoyances, he was banished from the 
province by these early men of "great moral ideas." j 

For a similar advocacy of freedom of religious opinion 
Anne Hutchinson and her followers were exiled from Massa- 
chusetts in 1637, as persons seditious and dangerous to the 
state. With the intuitive perceptions of an enthusiastic and 
philosophical mind, Anne Hutchinson perceived the dangers 
and denounced the influence of the bigoted Puritanism which 
had already established itself in Massachusetts. A Protes- 
tant herself, this female reformer simply desired that liberty 
of opinion, and of private judgment, should be allowed to 
develop their natural and legitimate results, whether they 
eventuated in Calvinism, Islamism, Paganism, Atheism, or 
Socialism. But the Puritans^set around their province an 
ecclesiastical corral, embracing only the fatalistic dogmas of 
Calvin, and no spiritual sustenance was to be taken outside 
of this narrow enclosure ; while the more advanced female 
reformer and her Quaker associates recognized no boun- 
daries, no limits to any mind or any capacity in deciding upon 
the mysterious and difficult questions of theology. Within 



PUKITAN INTOLEEANCE. 389 

the circumscribed limits of Massacliusetts, tlie pastors had 
affixed their ecclesiastical seal upon theological doctrine, and 
woe be to him or them, however learned or gifted, who should 
presume to alter or doubt a single oracular decree of these 
expounders of the mysteries of godliness ! If they were thus 
intolerant against individuals of their own sect, who can 
picture the horror they would have entertained and the 
atrocities they would have committed against an intruding 
Anglican or Catholic ? 

Two Baptists, Clarke and Holmes, commenced preaching 
their doctrines to the people of Lynn in 1651, but were 
speedily arrested, fined, and severely whipped for their 
temerity. The persecutions and cruelties of the Puritans 
were never more active than at this period. Every form of 
worship but the established one was punishable as a civil 
offence. Imprisonment, stripes, cropping off ears, perforating 
the toDgue with red-hot irons, exile, and even death were 
usual penalties against Anabaptists, Quakers, and other dis- 
senting sects. Thus, in 1659, William Robinson, Marma- 
duke Stephenson, ISTicholas Davis, William Leddra, Wenlock 
Christison, and Mary Dyer were hung by these Puritan 
civilizers for preaching Quakerism in Massachusetts.* Men 
like Cotton Mather, Skelton, Higginson, and Parris con- 
stituted themselves censors of the public conscience, and, 
with despotic cruelty, sought to bend the necks of all the 
people under their Puritanical yoke. Nor did they confine 
themselves strictly to religious matters ; politics, morals, and 
irregularities of all kinds came under their dictatorial in- 
fluences. 

Of Cotton Mather, Bancroft remarks: "Was Cotton 
Mather honestly credulous ? Ever ready to dupe himself, 
he limited his credulity only by the probable credulity of 
others. He changes, or omits to repeat his statements, with- 
out acknowledging error, and with a clear intention of con- 
veying false impressions. He is an example of how far 
selfishness, under the form of vanity and ambition, can blind 
* See " Colonial Eecords," and Bancroft's " Historj/' 



390 CHEISTIANITY -AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

the higher faculties, stupefy the judgment, and dupe con- 
sciousness itself. His self-righteousness was complete, until 
he was resisted." * 

Cotton Mather not only declared that " there is both a 
God, and a devil, and witchcraft ; hut that all who denied 
the fact, were guilty of ignorance, incivility, and dishonest 
impudence." As the Bible makes allusions to witchcraft and 
witches in the olden time, these Biblical Solons of Salem and 
Boston inferred that they ought to exist in modern times. 
There was the witch of Endor ; why should there not be the 
witch of Salem, or Boston, or Plymouth ? Careful inquiry in 
1688 revealed to these modem prophets an excellent subject, 
in the person of a poor, ignorant Irishwoman named Glover, 
This poor creature was accused of having bewitched the 
daughter of one Goodwin, an hysterical girl of thirteen years, 
and finally, after divers persecutions and a mock trial, they 
put her to death by hanging! 

One of the most infamous and active agents in these 
witchcraft persecutions was a Puritan minister of Salem, by 
the name of Samuel Parris. Aided and abetted by Mather, 
Stoughton, Phipps, and other sectarian radicals, he insti- 
tuted proceedings against hundreds of innocent persons of 
his town, selecting those against whom he had some hostility 
or prejudice, and caused twenty to be hung for witchcraft, 
fifty-five to be " tortured or terrified ioto false confessions," 
and hundreds to be confined in prison. In nearly all cases 
these sanguinary accusers were actuated by motives of per- 
sonal hatred and revenge against those who were accused. 
With hypo'critical prayers upon their lips, and assumptions of 
superior piety and virtue, these clerical murderers and their 
vile accomplices in persecution and crime perpetrated these 
deeds of wickedness and blood. 'No efforts were spared by 
these cunning malignants to suborn witnesses, and in every 
way to manufacture testimony against their enemies, in order 
to torture them, and, when possible, to hang them. Another 
beautiful result of Puritan civilization and Christian charity. 
* "History of tlie United States," vol. iii., p. 9*7, 



4 



PUEITAH INTOLEEANCE. 



391 



In 1661 an additional law was enacted against the " in- 
trusions of blasphemous, accursed, heretical, and vagabond 
Quakers, who, like rouges and vagabonds, sneak and wander 
about to spread their absurd and blasphemous doctrine ; " * 
directing any magistrate who may be able to catch them, " to 
strip them naked from the middle upwards, tje them to a 
carts tayle, and whip thro^ the toune," f and so on from 
town to town until they shall have been scourged out of the 
colony. Should the Quaker return a second time he or she 
is to be " severely whipped and branded with the letter K on 
the left shoulder," J and then whipped out of town as before. 
Banislnnent or death, at the option of the court, were the 
penalties for a third return to the colony, or for an obstinate 
persistence in remaining in the colony. 

It is difficult to believe that a class of people as benevo- 
lent, moral, exemplary, and industrious as the Quakers have 
always been, and so admirably calculated to enhance the 
prosperity and welfare of a state, could have been so wan- 
tonly and cruelly treated by men claiming to be Christians. 
But the facts herein enumerated, respecting the treatment of 
the Quakers by the Puritans, are chiefly derived from the 
early " Colonial Records of Massachusetts Bay," edited by 
Dr. Slmrtleff, of Boston, and may therefore be relied upon as 
authentic. 

^OY were the penalties confined to the Quakers them- 
selves. Every man harboring, concealing, or importing a 
Quaker, or who should have in his possession, or read any of 
their writings, was subjected to heavy fines and imprison- 
ment; and if the offence v/as persisted in, to banishment 
under penalty of death. How sadly were these excellent 
people mistaken in trusting to the much vaunted professions 
of the Puritans respecting religious toleration ! 

At a general court held at Boston, October 14, 1657, an 
additional law was enacted " in reference to the coming or 
bringing in any of the cursed sect of Quakers into this juris- 
diction, and it is further ordered, that whosoever shall, from 
* " Colonial Records of Massacliusetts Bay." f Ibid. X ^^^^' 



392 



CHEISTIANITY AKD ITS CONFLICTS. 



henceforth, bring, or cause to be brought, directly or indi- 
rectly, any knowne Quaker or Quakers, or other blasphemous 
heretiks, into this jurisdiction, euery such person shall forfeite 
the some of one hundred pounds to y^ countrje, and by war- 
rant from any magistrate, be comitted to prison." * And 
for harboring, concealing, or entertaining any such Quaker 
or Quakers, a fine of forty shillings and imprisonment were 
the penalties. "And it is further ordered, that if any Qua- 
ker or Quakers shall presume, after they haue once suffered 
what the lawe requireth, to come into this jurisdiction, euery 
such male Quaker shall, for the first offenc, haue one of his 
eares cutt off, and be kept in the house of correction at worke 
till he cann be sent away at his oune charge, and for the 
second offenc shall haue his other eare cutt off, &c., and kept 
at the house of correction, as aforesaid . . . and for euery Qua- 
ker, he or she, that shall a third tjme heerein againe offend, 
they shall haue theire toungues bored through w*^ a hot iron 
and kept at the house of correction, close to worke, till they 
be sent away at their oune charge." f For a first offence 
by female Quakers, severe whipping and imprisonment were 
the penalties. 

In 1658 another law was enacted, "that euery person or 
persons of the cursed sect of the Quakers, who is not an inhab- 
itant off, but found w*4n this jurisdiction," shall be taken to 
prison, without bail, and, on conviction, banished upon pain 
of death. Or any Quaker preaching or teaching his doc- 
trines, or "drauing from our Church assembljs," or "pub- 
lishing or defending the horrid opinions of the Quakers, shall 
be sentenced to banishment vpon pajne of death." J 

If the influence of Catholicism and Puritanism upon the 
civilization of Korth America be contrasted, the former will 
lose nothing by the comparison. In every thing pertaining 
to the welfare of the aborigines, to civil liberty, to religioiis 
toleration, and to the material, moral, and social progress of 
society. Catholics have ever been for in advance of their op- 
ponents. 

* " Colonial Records of Massachusetts Bay." f Ibid. ^ Ibid. 



PUEITAN INTOLEEANCE. 393 

To a Roman Catholic, as we have already observed, be- 
longs the credit of having first secured liberty of conscience 
and religious toleration on the American continent. Sir 
George Calv^ert, brother of Lord Baltimore, according to Ban- 
croft, " deserves to be ranked among the most wise and benev- 
olent lawgivers of all ages. He was the first in the history 
of the Christian world to seek for religious security and peace 
by the practice of justice, and not by the exercise of power ; to 
plan the establishment of popular institutions with the enjoy- 
ment of liberty of conscience ; to advance the career of civiliza- 
tion by recognizing the rightful equality of all Christian sects. 
The asylum of papists was the spot where, in a remote cor- 
ner of the world, on the banks of rivers which as yet had 
hardly been explored, the mild forbearance of a proprietary 
adopted religious freedom as the basis of the state." * 

On the 2'7th day of March, 1634, the Catholics under Cal- 
vert took quiet possession of a little Indian village on the 
banks of St. Mary's River, and " religious liberty obtained a 
home, its only home in the wide world. Every other country 
in the world had persecuting laws ; but, through the benign 
administration of the government of that province [Mary- 
land], no person professing to believe in Jesus Christ was 
permitted, to be molested on account of religion. . . . And 
there, too, Protestants were sheltered against Protestant in- 
tolerance. . . . The disfranchised friends of prelacy from Mas- 
sachusetts, and the Puritans from Virginia, were welcomed 
to equal liberty of conscience and political rights in the Ro- 
man Catholic province of Maryland." f 

How great was the contrast between this religious and 
civil toleration in this Maryland colony of Lord Baltimore, 
and in those of Massachusetts and Virginia, where special stat- 
utes had been enacted to exclude Catholics and non-conform- 
ists from all political, religious, or social rights ! 

In the treatment of the savages of Maryland, the Cath- 
olics of Lord Baltimore's colony were always governed by 
the most exalted principles of Christianity and philanthropy. 

* " Hist, of the United States," vol i., p. 244. f Ibid., vol. i., pp. 248-257, 
T7* 



394 CIIEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

The territorial and personal rights of the natives were scru- 
pulously respected, and earnest and persistent efforts made 
to teach them religious truths, and the arts and practices of 
civilized life. Their lands were not taken from them by force, 
or without their consent, but by honorable negotiation and 
purchase. Instead of offering bounties for their scalps, the 
Catholics offered them words and acts of love and mercy. 
This condition of affairs continued uninterruptedly until 
1654, when Clayborne and his Puritan followers wrested by 
force the government of Maryland from the hands of Stone, 
the agent and representative of Lord Baltimore. After 
disfranchising all the Catholics of the colony, these men 
passed an act " concerning religion, confirming freedom of 
coiiBGieuce, provided the liberty were not extended to popery, 
prelacy, or licentiousness of opinion." Many of these acts of 
intolerance were perj)etrated during the dictatorship of 
Cromwell ; and, although fully aware of them, he never took 
any measures to correct them. 

N'or were the Puritans the only persecutors of the Mary- 
land Catholics ; for when, in 1702, episcopacy was established 
by the colonial legislature of Maryland, tolerance was grant- 
ed to all sects except tlie Catholic. Says Bancroft : *' The Ro- 
man Catholics alone were left without an ally, exposed to 
English bigotry and colonial injustice. They alone were 
disfranchised on the soil which, long before Locke pleaded for 
toleration, or Penn for religious freedom, they had chosen, 
not as their own asylum only, but, with Catholic liberality, 
as the asylum of every persecuted sect. In the land which 
Catholics had opened to Protestants, the Catholic inhabitant 
was the sole victim to Anglican intolerance. Mass might 
not be said publicly. No Catholic priest or bishop might 
utter his faith in a voice of persuasion. 'No Catholic might 
teach the young. If the wayward child of a papist would 
but become an apostate, the la^v wrested for him from his 
parents a share of their property. The disfranchisement of 
the proprietary related to his creed, not to his family. Such 
were the methods adopted to prevent the growth of popery ; 



PUEITAN INTOLERANCE. 395 

but the persecution ueyer crushed the faith of the humble 
colonists." * 

This Puritan policy toward the Catholics of Maryland 
was only a continuation of that which was being pursued by 
the English toward tlie Catholics of Ireland. The govern- 
ment and people of England had been schooled in the practices 
of intolerance and oppression against their subjugated Irish 
dependency for hundreds of years. 

Toward the close of the thirteenth century, when Henry 
II. was king of England, Ireland was attacked and subjugat- 
ed by bands of English adventurers under a number of impov- 
erished and ambitious barons. The object of these men was 
plunder and the acquisition of lands. N'otwith standing the 
invaders were Catholics, they did not hesitate to strip their 
Celtic brethren of nearly all their acres, and to divide them 
among a few English families. The native inhabitants 
were deprived of nearly every civil, military, and social priv- 
ilege enjoyed by their insolent rulers; and this condition of 
aifairs continued until the Reformation, when all the Prot- 
estant elements of the kingdom were brought into requisition 
ao-ainst the down-trodden Irish Catholics. On the accession 
of Elizabeth to the English throne, she established the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church in Ireland, and rigidly excluded 
the Catholic population from all political and religious rights. 
English influence now reigned supreme, and the people were 
plundered and outraged w^ithout mercy and with perfect 
impunity. ISTo amelioration resulted from the accession of 
James T. ; but repeated violations of faith and atrocious 
persecutions of all kinds finally drove the Celts and the 
Norman-Irish, who had now fraternized with them for mutual 
protection, to arms in 1641. Arrayed against them were the 
king, the Puritan Parliament, the Scotch Presbyterians, and 
the bigoted and ferocious Oliver Cromwell. XJnable to cope 
successfully with these powerful enemies, they struggled on 
amidst every conceivable outrage and suifering until 1660, 
when all power of resistance ceased. 

* Bancroft's " History of the United States," vol. iii., p. 32. 



396 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Under Charles II. and James II., no material relief was 
experienced; for the native Irish were still regarded and 
treated as aliens and enemies. 

After the revolution of 1688, the condition of the Irish 
Catholics was hopeless in the extreme. Subjugated by a 
people who hated them with fanatical ferocity, and power- 
less to offer resistance, their rights and privileges were every- 
where trampled upon. 

A reference to the penal codes enacted by William and 
Anne for the "prevention of the growth of popery," will en- 
able the reader to form some idea of the spirit of the Eng- 
lish Protestants toward their Catholic subjects. 

In 1763 no Catholic could marry a Protestant, no Catho- 
lic could vote, hold office, possess lands, teach or be taught, 
at home or abroad, preach or practise his religion, own or 
keep arms or weapons of any kind, or exercise paternal au- 
thority in Ireland, under penalty of imprisonment, trans- 
portation, and death by hanging, drawing, and quartering. 
All priests, monks, and teachers were registered, and retained 
within limited districts like prisoners. They were forbidden 
to teach, preach, or to exercise their holy offices in any man- 
ner, under penalty of outlawry or death. 

Under such a weight of tyranny and persecution, is it 
strange that the priesthood of Ireland should have been 
lacking in literary culture, or that the emigrants who have 
come to this country have been, for the most part, ignorant ? 
Six-sevenths of all the lands of Ireland had been confis- 
cated and divided among the radical Protestants of England, 
and every Catholic was disfranchised, prohibited from owning 
lands, or procuring leases for over thirty-one years ; and then 
all profits over one-third the amount of the rent were to be 
delivered up to his landlord or some government agent. 
Bribes and preferments were offered to those who would be- 
come recreant to their religion and their friends; but every 
man, however poor or ignorant, remained true to his princi- 
ples, preferring to suffer all the pangs of poverty, injustice, and 
cruel persecution, rather than to peril the welfare of his soul. 



PUEITAN mTOLEEANCE. 397 

The history of the world does not present a higher degree 
of Christian forbearance and moral elevation than was pre- 
sented by the Irish Catholics during their days of crushing 
oppression and wrong after the Reformation. 

To judge fairly between the conduct of different nations 
or sects, it is necessary to take into account the precise period 
of the Christian era, the intelligence of the people interested, 
the race of men, and the influence of existing circumstances. 
Since the Reformation, we may justly compare the treatment 
of England and her American colonies toward the Catholics 
of Ireland, and the non-conformists of N'ew England, Mary- 
laud, and Virginia, with the course pursued by the Catholic 
colony of Lord Baltimore toward those who came among 
them as residents. The spiiit of the former was intoler- 
ance, hatred, and persecution ; of the latter, entire freedom 
of conscience, equal rights, and cordial fraternity. 

If it be urged that the Church of Rome, during the mid- 
dle ages, likewise exercised a general system of religious 
intolerance, and not unfrequently enforced her views by acts 
of persecution and cruelty against her opponents, let it be 
remembered that the people, the circumstances, and the in- 
telligence of these dark ages were entirely different from 
those which have existed since the Reformation. The con- 
verts to Christianity during the early and middle centuries 
were from paganism and idolatry. The converted Christians 
of these epochs were ignorant, semi-barbarous, material. 
Their hereditary traits were selfishness and love of pleasure ; 
and an element of their moral code had been "an eye for an 
eye, and a tooth for a tooth." Under such circumstances, it 
is not strange that these converted pagans should now and 
then have forgotten the beneficent doctrines of the Church, 
and have lapsed into their original habits of intolerance and 
persecution. Born and reared in the midst of such a dark 
period, it is unreasonable to expect in them, as converts to 
Christianity, that strict adhesion to the precepts and prac- 
tices of religion which might justly be demanded of modern 
Christendom. During the past three centuries, the sum of 



CHEISTIANITY AKD ITS COKTLICTS. 

human knowledge and intelligence has been vastly greater 
than during the middle ages, when all Europe was so often 
convulsed and demoralized by barbarian irruptions and bar- 
barian conquests. The enormous advances in art, science, 
philosophy, and literature have created an entire revolution 
in human thought, sentiment, and conduct. The clear light 
of a strictly Christian epoch, and a high state of intellectual 
development, have rendered the course of the modern Chris- 
tian luminous and certain. The Christian converts of the 
middle ages were hedged about by hereditary prejudices 
and customs, false philosophies, and the baneful influences of 
barbarian conquerors and oppressors — suspended midway 
between Christian civilization and barbarism ; and if they 
were not uniformly perfect models of Christianity, but some- 
times intolerant, superstitious, and cruel, let us remember the 
darkness, the doubts, and the materialism of the ages in 
which they lived, and cast over them the mantle of Christian 
charity. Let us be just, and judge of nations with reference 
to the knowledge possessed, and the eras in which they have 
existed. Let us not require of the pagan convert that de- 
gree of excellence, or that persistency in religious faith and 
practice which is demanded of the more modern Christian 
believer. 

N'orth America was colonized by men of the same race, 
the same habits, the same mental and physical qualities, and 
at the same epoch. A portion of these colonizers were Prot- 
estant, and a portion Catholic. Subjects of the same gov- 
ernment, surrounded by similar conditions, and with a full 
scope for the development of their several modes of civiliza- 
tion, a fair comparison may here be instituted between them, 
and a just judgment rendered. No Catholic need blush in 
arraying the colonial records of Lord Baltimore's colony in 
Maryland against those of Massachusetts or Viro^nia. 



CHAPTEE XXIX. 

MISSIONS IN AMERICA. 

As-other test of the comparative influence of Protestant 
and Catholic civilization in IsTorth America may be found 
in the resu.lts of the missionary enterprises of the several 
parties. 

As early as 1611 Catholic missionaries were in communi- 
cation with many of the wild tribes of the North and West. 
Under Fathers De Briencourt and Biart, they explored the 
coast as far as the Kennebec, and ascended that river. They 
visited the Algonquins, the Abenakis, the Canibas, and other 
tribes between the Penobscot and the Kennebec. Their 
kindness and disinterested benevolence won the confidence 
and respectful attention of these Indians, and induced them 
to listen with interest and profit to the doctrines of Chris- 
tlanit3^ 

Catholic priests were among the earliest and most suc- 
cessful pioneers and discoverers in the northern and western 
parts of the continent. The discovery of the Mississippi River, 
its course, and its outlet in the Gulf of Mexico, was due to 
the suggestions and actual personal eiforts of Father Mar- 
quette and his enterprising companion, Joliet. Many other 
rivers and new teriitories were discovered by these men dur- 
ing their daring voyages as missionaries. 

In 1633 there were about twenty Jesuit priests in Cana- 
da ; and their labors and discoveries as pioneers and found- 
ers of towns were of incalculable importance to the early 



4:00 CHEISTIAOTTT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

colonizers. Their influence over the wild tribes of the wil- 
derness was likewise beneficial in the highest degree. As 
Bancroft truly observes, " The history of their labors is con- 
nected with the origin of every celebrated town in the annals 
of French America : not a cape was turned, nor a river en- 
tered, but a Jesuit led the way." 

The trials and hardships of Fathers Brebeuf, Daniel, and 
Lallemand, who visited the Hurons in 1633, the rude chapels 
which they erected in the midst of their wilderness home, 
and the unwearied assiduity with which they struggled to 
convert their wild friends to Christianity, are noted with ad- 
miration by many historians of this period. Within twelve 
years from the time Brebeuf and his companions first entered 
Canada, more than fifty Catholic missionaries had followed 
them to the haunts of the savages, risking every thing in 
their noble cause. Nearly all of these men were martyred ; 
but they had deliberately oftered themselves as willing sacri- 
fices in the great work, as humble soldiers of the cross, with- 
out a hope of reward on earth, guided by the everlasting 
light of heaven, and sustained by the consoling influences of 
their religion. 

Many of these early missionaries attached themselves to 
migratory tribes, adopting many of their habits, their mode 
of life, acquiescing in their simple and primitive customs and 
sports when not contrary to religion, sympathizing with 
theni in their griefs, and rejoicing with them in their joys, 
sharing their privations and hardships, and wandering with 
them from place to place. Such disinterestedness commend- 
ed itself to the Indian, and roused his admiration and grati- 
tude. He saw these devoted men come to them without/ 
arms, without guile, coveting nothing, and intent only on 
showing them divine truths, and doing them good. Occa- 
sionally they were attacked by hostile savages, and put to 
death ; but their places were immediately filled by others. 
Such were the fates of Fathers Jogues, Goupil, Daniel, Bre- 
beuf, Lallemand, Gareau, Mesnard, and others who preferred 
the crown of martyrdom to earthly comfort and glory. 



MISSIONS m AMEEICA. 401 

The Puritan missionaries approached the aborigines with 
sermons, Puritanical statutes, rum, and bullets. "iThey may 
be regarded as missionary footpads, who were in the habit 
of waylaying the savage with both spiritual and physical 
arms, and demanding his conversion or his life. When heav- 
enly weapons were not promptly successful, mundane ones 
were brought into requisition ; and it must be confessed that 
in nearly every instance the latter Avere the weapons which 
brought the poor Indian down. 

It has always been customary for the Catholic missionary 
to respect the innocent and harmless prejudices, superstitions, 
and customs of the savages, and to adapt himself as far as 
possible to their peculiarities and mode of life. In this man- 
ner they were gradually enabled to indoctrinate them with 
the fundamental truths of the Christian religion. But the 
Puritan missionary saw nothing good, nothing permissible, 
outside the five points of Calvin, and the discipline of the 
Calvinistic churches of Boston, Plymouth, and Salem. They 
recognized no other mode of converting their wild neighbors 
than military coercion. Can it be wondered at that the mis- 
sionary efforts of the Puritans of New England should have 
been unsuccessful, and that the native tribes were almost 
continually at war with the whites, until they were finally 
exterminated ? When we contemplate the intolerance and 
cruelty of these early colonizers toward every human being 
who was not within the pale of Calvinistic theology and dis- 
cipline, we may understand why Quakers, Baptists, and re- 
puted witches, were persecuted, tortured, and put to death, 
and why the poor Indian was robbed of his possessions, his 
nationality, and eventually of his very life's blood ; and we 
may understand why the public sentiment of Massachusetts, 
during the first century of her colonial existence, was forced 
to succumb to the private malignancy and vengeance of the 
Mathers, the Skeltons, the Parrises, and the Higginsons of 
that period ; and why the influences of Puritanism tended 
toward pagan rather than Christian civilization and ad- 
vancement. 



402 CIIEISTIAI^ITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Within the first century after the Catholic missionaries 
commenced their labors in South America, more than 1,500,- 
000 Indians were converted from idolatry and demon-wor- 
ship to Catholicism, and to a knowledge and practice of 
many of the arts of civilization. 

In Australia, under the influence of Protestant civiliza- 
tion and Protestant missionary enterprise, the natives have 
been nearly exterminated. " Another ten years," says Mr. 
Byrne, " and an aboriginal native will be as great a curiosity 
in Sydney, or within the boundaries of the colony, as he is at 
present in Europe." The same thing is true of Van Diemen's 
Land, the new colony of Yictoria, and of Kew Zealand. 
According to an official document published at Auckland in 
1859, by order of the colonial government, the native popu- 
lation of Kew Zealand had become reduced to 56,4:09,. seven- 
eighths having disappeared. The opinion is almost universal 
that the entire race will be exterminated in two or three 
generations more, as have been nearly all the aboriginal na- 
tives of the United States under similar influences. 

Marshall, in his " Christian Missions," thus alludes to the 
pernicious effects of sectarian missions in ISTew Zealand : 
" The war of sects, the license of crude and shifting opinion, 
the strife of texts, and endless discord of opposing creeds — 
it was necessary that J^ew Zealand should possess them all. 
Fatal gift ! against which even pagans would have lifted up 
the cry of fear and supplication if they had known what 
it would bring in its train. But this is the final chastise- 
ment which ages of impenitence have brought upon the hea- 
then world in these last days, and which not even apostles — 
though they were as wise as St. Paitl, as mighty as St. Greg- 
ory Thauraaturgus, or as fervent as St. Francis Xavier — 
could now avert from them. Protestantism is the last 
scourge of heathenism." " The spirit of controversy," says 
Dr. Selwyn, " is everywhere found to prevail, in many cases 
to the entire exclusion of all simplicity of faith." And in 1850 
Mr. Bonner writes : " Though in some places there are only 
six or seven natives, yet they have separate places of worship 



MISSIONS IN AlIEKIOA. 403 

— Chnrcli of England, and Wesleyan —and are always quar- 
relling about religion." And the Rev. Elijah Hoole says, 
"that contention, animosity, distrust, and intolerance are 
hut the mere outlines of that state of feeling which at pres- 
ent exists among our divided people. The spirit of Christi- 
anity is lost in the form, and the very form itself has become 
the subject of incessant and angry dispute." * 

According to the most reliable Protestant authorities, like 
Dr. Thompson, Mr. Wakefield, Mr. Paul, Mr. Brown, Eev. 
Mr. Turton, and other gentlemen of the highest character 
and positions, these schismatic differences have separated 
thousands of natives into hostile sects, who make war upon 
each other with more virulence and ferocity than when they 
fought each other in their primitive heathenism. 

" In 1856," says Thomas Ewbank, an American Protestant, 
" there were eight hundred thousand domesticated Indian 
converts to Catholicism in Brazil. In 'New Granada, a single 
Catholic missionary. Father Claver, who died in 1654, con- 
verted and baptized four hundred thousand native pagans 
and imported slaves. In Paraguay, and other neighboring 
South American countries, more than one million of converts 
were made to the Church before the commencement of the 
nineteenth century. In Oceanica, and in the South Sea 
Islands, where Catholicism is in the ascendant the masses of 
the natives have been converted and partially civilized." 

If we extend our inquiries into all parts of the American 
continent, and examine critically the past and present fruits 
of all Protestant missionary enterprises, we shall invariably 
find one or more of the following results : 1. A continual and 
rapid decrease of population. 2. A general corruption of 
morals and habits. 3. A substitution of the vices and the 
diseases of civilization for those of heathenism. A simple 
reference to the early missions of ISTew England and Canada, 
and the more recent missions and present condition of the 
western portions of the United States, of the Sandwich 
Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Van Diemen's Land, and 

* Marshall's " Christian Missions," vol. ii., p. 144. 



404: CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Other Protestant fields of labor, will render these facts 
apparent. 

Among all the native races of this continent, it is doubt- 
ful whether Protestantism can claim twenty thousand con- 
verts ! The great field of missionary labor on this continent 
has always been equally open to Protestants and Catholics. 
The gospel of both demanded that its doctrines should be 
preached to all nations. Who have best fulfilled the com- 
mandment? A tabular statement of the results of the. 
Protestant missions in America would reveal such an insis;- 
nificant number of converts, when compared with those of the 
Catholics, that we refrain from making the sad exhibition. 
Instead of instituting a comparison, as might readily be done, 
we shall content ourselves with submitting the glorious 
results of Catholic missions among the heathen nations of 
America, and leave the intelligent reader to decide as to who 
are the actual Christian civilizers. To those who desire to 
enter into more minute details respecting the labors of 
Catholic missionaries, we refer them to the missions of Fathers 
Louis Cancer, Diego de Penalosa, Gregory de Beteta, and 
Andrew de Olmas, in Florida and Texas (1544) ; Mark of 
Nice, Sarria, and Fortuni, in California (1539-1838) ; John 
de Padilla, and John of the Cross, in New Mexico (1539) ; 
AUouez, Marquette, Ribourde, Gravier, Rale, Du Poisson, 
and Soual, in the Southern and Western States, in (1669) ; the 
splendid results of the labors of De Smet, in Oregon and other 
Western States, since 1831. Also to Marshall's Christian 
missions ; Shea's, Strickland's, and other histories of missions. 

The following statistical tables will enable the reader to 
form some idea of the enormous labors of Catholic mission- 
aries in America, in the conversion of the heathen, and of 
their wonderful results : 

1. JVative Converts in America. 

Mexico 6,000,000 

Paraguay 1,200,000 

New Granada 2,000,000 



MISSIONS IN AMERICA. 405 

Venezuela 1,200,000 

Brazil 4,500,000 

Guatemala 800,000 

San Salvador 500,000 

Honduras 250,000 

Nicaragua 350,000 

EcTiador 1,200,000 

Bolivia 1,500,000 

Peru 1,200,000 

Chili 1,500,000 

Other portions of South America 1,000,000 



Total 23,200,000 

The entire Catholic population of America amounts to 
46,970,000. Of this number more than one-Jialf ^qyh origin- 
ally idolatrous natives who have been converted by Catholic 
missionaries; for this tabulated estimate does not include the 
native conversions in the United States or in the British "pos- 
sessions. 

We earnestly entreat Protestants to contemplate seriously 
these wonderful results, these great practical facts of Christi- 
anity, and then ask themselves if these things are not the 
work of God, and if the missionary enterprises of the sects 
are not the works of men. And let it be understood that the 
labors of the Catholics have been equally successful in the 
other heathen lands of the earth. In all parts of Asia and 
Africa her missionaries have been as devoted and as success- 
ful as in America. We take the liberty of digressing for a 
moment, in order to present the following statistics : 

2. Catholic Fopulation of Asia and Oceanica. 

Asiatic Turkey 600,000 

Moldavia and Wallachia 130,000 

Asiatic Russia 100,000 

British India 1,100,000 

Ketherland India 25,000 



4:06 CHEISTIAOTTY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Frencli India 170,000 

Portuguese India, Islands, and Macao 546,000 

Spanish India and Philippine Islands. . . . 4,750,000 

Persia 120,000 

Anam 600,000 

Siam 25,000 

China 1,000,000 

ISTew Holland 300,000 

Tasmania 40,000 

N'ew Zealand 60,000 

ISTew Caledonia and adjoining Islands 70,000 

Sandwich Islands 30,000 

Total 9,666,000 

Of this number, it is estimated that there are not less 
than 5,000,000 of native converts who have been brought 
into^ the Christian fold by Catholic missionaries. 

3. Catholic Fopulation of Africa. 

Egypt 172,000 

Abyssinia 2,000,000 

Tripoli, Tunis, and Morocco 30,000 

Spanish possessions 25,000 

Canaries 260,000 

Portuguese possessions 690,000 

Madeira and Islands 260,000 

Continental French possessions 250,000 

Reunion and other Islands 180,000 

Continental British possessions 30,000 

Mauritius and other Islands 150,000 

Liberia 4^000 

Madagascar 10,000 

Gallas 10,000 

Total 4,071,000 



snssioNS m amesica. 407 

If we fix the iiiimber of native converts at 3,000,000, we 
shall probably be under the actual estimate. 

These statistics are derived chiefly from the " Civilta, 
Cattolica " and Marshall's " Christian Missions." In order 
that our estimate of the number of converts from heathenism 
should not be overstated, we have doubtless erred on the 
other side. As to several of the South American countries, 
our data are accurate; while we have been obliged to ap- 
proximate, as nearly as we are able, as to the relative propor- 
tions in other countries. Our figures stand thus : 



Entire Catholic Population. 

America 46,970,000 

Asia and Oceanica 9,666,000 

Africa 4,071,000 

Total Catholic population in Amer- 
ica, Asia, and Africa 60,707,000 

Converts from Heathenism. 

America 23,200,000 

Asia and Oceanica 5,000,000 

Africa 3,000,000 

Total number of converts from 

idolatry 31,200,000 

iNeaiiy all these converts have been made within the 
past three hundred years — since the Reformation — since 
humanity has been primitively Christianized, civilized, 
enfranchised, and redeemed from popery by Puritanism ! 

What accessions has Protestantism made to Christianity 
from the benighted nations of Asia and Africa ? According 
to their own most authentic sources, the results of their exten- 
sive missionary organizations, and their vast expenditures, 
have been utterly insignificant. We do not believe that they 



408 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

can justly claim fifty thousand real heathen converts in all 
the world. No candid man can regard this small number by 
the side of the thirty-one millions of Catholic converts with- 
out a conviction that the special blessings of Providence are 
with the Catholics. 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

HUMAN SLAYERY IN NEW ENGLAND. 

AccoEDi2q"G to the " Colonial Records of Massachusetts," 
" two members of the Church of Boston," James Smith and 
Thomas Keyser, first imported negro slaves into 'New Eng- 
land in 1637. These men brought these slaves from Provi- 
dence Isle in the Salem ship " Desire ; " so that we may trace 
the origin of negro slavery in ISTew England to members of 
a Puritan church of Boston. 

It has been estimated that not less than four millions of 
slaves have been taken from Africa by the Protestants of 
England and her colonies since the commencement of the so- 
called Reformation. Between the years 1700 and 1750, Ban- 
croft supposes that a million and a half of slaves were im- 
ported from Africa, by English and American Protestants, 
in English and colonial ships, fitted out in English or colo- 
nial ports, with the consent of rulers. Parliaments, and peo- 
ple. Of this number, one-eighth died during the passage. 

When the innovators of the sixteenth century commenced 
their agitations, human slavery had been abolished by the 
persistent efforts of the Catholic Church throughout Conti- 
nental Europe. But it was revived by the sectaries of Eng- 
land and America under circumstances of appalling cruelty, 
and for many generations it was sustained and encouraged 
by legal enactments. 
18 



410 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

The efforts of the Catholic priesthood commenced in the 
days of Jesus and the apostles, and continued steadfastly- 
through centuries, until eventually all the slaves of Conti- 
nental Europe were emancipated, and almost imperceptibly 
incorporated into the great public body. This beneficent 
work was effected by a process of gradual emancipation 
which slowly elevated the slave in the scale of humanity, and 
prepared him for his changed condition. An abrupt enfran- 
chisement would have resulted in the demoralization and 
destruction of the liberated race. During the past three cen- 
turies, while Puritanism has often been the advocate and de- 
fender of human bondage and of the slave-trade, and been 
the means of reducing to perpetual servitude many millions 
of men, the Church of Rome has uniformly and earnestly op- 
posed human bondage and slave-traffic, and endeavored to 
elevate and Christianize the bondmen of all nations, and in- 
struct them in their duties and responsibilities toward God 
and man. 

For more than one hundred and fifty years after the first 
settlement of Massachusetts Bay, the Puritans of America 
w^ere in no respect in advance of the slaveholders of the 
golden age. These ISTew England men abolished slavery 
when it ceased to be profitable, and not until then ; thus 
squaring their philanthropy with pounds, shillings, and 
pence. Their rule has always been, principles, when they 
cost nothing, and subserve their own opinions and prejudi- 
ces ; but when principles and pockets are in opposite scales, 
the latter have generally preponderated. 

"The slave-trade between Africa and America," says 
Bancroft, " was never sanctioned by the See of Rome. The 
spirit of the Roman Church was against it. . . . Leo X. de- 
clared that not the Christian religion only, but ^N'ature her- 
self, cries out against the state of slavery. And Paul III, in 
two separate briefs, inprecated a curse on the Europeans who 
should enslave Indians, or any other class of men. It even 
became usual for Spanish vessels, when they sailed on a voy- M 
age of discovery, to be attended by a priest, whose benevo- ^ 



4 



HUMAN SLAVERY IN NEW ENGLAND. 411 

lent duty it was to preA^ent the kidnapping of the abori- 
gines." * 

How wide the contrast between these humane sentiments 
of Pope Leo, and his Catholic children, and those of the early 
Puritans who enslaved the remnant of the Pequod tribe of 
Indians which had survived the carnage of Mason and his 
Puritan soldiers ! The only son of King Philip, whose father 
had fed, sheltered, and defended the first colonists in their 
time of need, was kidnapped, sent to Bermuda in 1676, and 
sold as a slave. These are but a few of the instances which 
might be cited to illustrate the influence of Puritan civiliza- 
tion upon human slavery, and to mark the contrast between 
the efforts of Catholic and Protestant Christianity in this di- 
rection. Let us again revert for a moment to the influence 
of Catholic civilization in Mexico in the seventeenth century, 
and compare it with that of Puritan civilization in JSTorth 
America at the same period. Ferdinand and Isabella of 
Spain accepted the dominion of Mexico with the humane in- 
tention and solemn promise to the Bishop of Rome that they 
would hold this barbarous nation in trust for the purpose 
of Christianizing and civilizing its inhabitants. They dis- 
claimed all mercenary views, or any expectation of territorial 
aggrandizement in their acquisition. That these benevolent 
intentions might be fulfilled, priests accompanied every ex- 
pedition to Mexico, and always exercised their influence to 
restrain the adventurous soldiers of Spain from committing 
abuses upon the natives. From the first, slavery was sternly 
denounced by the Church and her agents ; and although ava- 
ricious laymen have not unfrequently violated these humane 
injunctions, the efforts of the Catholic clergy, directed and 
controlled by the indomitable energy and the boundless be- 
nevolence of the glorious Las Casas, speedily effected the total 
abolition of Indian slavery throughout Mexico. That this pol- 
icy was sanctioned by Ferdinand and Isabella, is evident from 
the following fact : The first voyages of Columbus were 
not remunerative ; and, as a consequence, many Spaniards 

* " History of the United States," vol. i., p. 112. 



412 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

who had made heavy investments in his enterprise were dis- 
satisfied with the results. With a view to meet the appro- 
bation of these capitalists, Columbus during one of his voy- 
ages to Mexico, captured and carried to Spain a cargo of 
Indian slaves. These slaves were landed, taken to Sala- 
manca, and advertised to be sold at auction ; but the intelli- 
gence reached the ears of Isabella, who at once put a stop to 
the sale, and sent them back in peace to their own country, 
declaring that these poor people had been intrusted to her 
by the holy father, for the pu-rpose of Christianizing and 
civilizing them, and not to enslave them or to make money 
out of them. 

Long after Indian slavery had been abolished in Mexico, 
through the agency of Las Casas and his fellow-missionaries, 
Puritan Massachusetts was daily killing and enslaving the 
unfortunate Indians who dwelt in her vicinity. And while 
these Puritan civilizers were torturing and hanging witches 
in Salem, the priests of the Catholic Church in Mexico had 
put a stop to all Aztec persecutions for witchcraft, and 
swept the dreadful superstition from the land. 

In 1772 and '73, before the Revolution, before intolerant 
radicals of 'New England had commenced their insolent agi- 
tations and interference with the domestic afiairs of the 
Southern States, and when calm reason alone influenced the 
people of all the slave sections, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick 
Henry, and George Mason, all owners of slaves, earnestly 
advised Virginia to cease the existing traffic, and enter upon 
a process of gradual emancipation. Had Kew England 
fanaticism never have existed, slavery would long since have 
been abolished in all the border States, by the spontane- 
ous action of the slave-owners themselves. We were in- 
formed by an aged and eminent judge of Kentucky, who had 
made " wills " his business specialty during the first thirty 
years of his professional career, that nearly every man who 
made a will at that early period, manumitted a part, and in 
many instances all of his slaves ; and he expressed the opin- 
ion, that if the spontaneous operations of the natural laws 



TTTTMAN SLAVEEY IN NEW ENGLAND. 413 

of humanity and justice had continued for thirty years longer, 
uninterrupted by the interference of 'New England agitators, 
slavery would have ceased to exist. Similar opinions have 
often been expressed by eminent men of the other border 

States. 



CHAPTEE XXXI. 

^ PUEITANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Influence on Morals, Manner's, and Folitics. 

Foe more than one hundred years after the first settle- 
ment of l!^ew England, morality consisted in an adhesion to 
the dogmas of Calvinism, and a regular attendance at one of 
the orthodox churches on Sundays and festal days. Tow- 
ard each other these sectaries were not remarkably unjust or 
oppressive; but toward all of different opinions, whether 
civilized or savage, they were intolerant, cruel, and in the" 
highest degree immoral, as we have shown in the last chapter. 

Socially these early men of the nation were cold, selfish, 
and unsympathetic. The affections and the emotions rarely 
found an abiding-place in their families. Pastimes, plays, 
spectacular representations, wit, humor, and mirth, were re- 
garded as sinful ; while a lugubrious face, a nasal articula- 
tion, and an assumption of stern asceticism were passports 
to public favor. Bigotry and sullen moroseness were im- 
pressed upon every feature and every act of the Puritans, re- 
pelling frankness, geniality, and the more refined sentiments 
and emotions of the heart. In their estimation, a solemn 
expression and groans were indications of godliness ; while 
mirth and laughter were regarded as indices of ungodliness. 
These traits exercised a predominant influence over their 
descendants for nearly one hundred and fifty years, thus 
flooding the colonies with intolerant sectaries. But by tliis 
time many new immigrants had arrived from various parts of 



PURITANISM m THE UKITED STATES. 415 

Europe, bringing with tliem a variety of religious and social 
opinions. Gradually these new views were presented to the 
minds of the rising generations of Puritans, and their faith in 
Calvinistic fatalism was often rudely shaken. Their heredi- 
tary faith was indeed frequently disturbed ; but, unfortunately, 
instead of adopting a better religion, they generally rushed 
blindly into irreligion and atheism. When an outlet was 
once made for their pent-up bigotry, the raging current too 
often carried away every vestige of conscience and true re- 
ligion, leaving in their places rationalism, skepticism, deism, 
and atheism. 

From Calvinism to infidelity is but a short step. As 
the N'ew England of the seventeenth and eighteenth centu- 
ries interpreted these dogmas, man was not a free agent, but 
a passive and helpless object. Instead of regarding their 
Maker as a Being of infinite love and mercy, their doctrmes 
forced them to see in Him elements of partiality, injustice, 
and wanton cruelty ; and these perverted and sacrilegious 
ideas of the Infinite Fountain of love and goodness have ex- 
ercised a baneful influence upon the civilization of N'oi'th 
America during the past two and a half centuries. This in- 
fluence may be witnessed at the present day, in the policy 
and conduct of the radicals of the United States. Intolerance 
and partisan persecution characterize all their expressions and 
actions, l^^ot a single element of charity, benevolence, mag- 
nanimity, or justice enters into their composition. Under 
impulses of questionable patriotism and morality they have 
converted the halls of Congress into political gambling-houses, 
where the liberties and rights of the people are daily staked 
and imperilled in desperate struggles for partisan and sec- 
tional power, 

ISTearly the entire socialistic and skeptical element of the 
nation is found in the ranks of radicalism. Their most active 
exponents belong to this class of men. A careful investiga- 
tion will demonstrate the instructive fact, that nearly every 
one of these individuals is either a native of l:^ew England 
or a direct descendant of the Puritans, A general belief in 



416 



CHEISTIANITY AND ITS COl^FLKJTB. 



the supernatural was a direct offspriug of Massachusetts 
Jr^untamsm, as is evident from the. colonial laws and penalties 
against witchcraft, and the horrible torturings and hangings 
of hundreds of mnocent men, women, and children for reputed 
witchcraft during the height of Puritan power and influence. 
Alter Charles II. laid his strong hand upon the bloodthirsty 
parsons of Salem and Boston, and their aiders and abetters 
and prohibited them by a royal edict from any further perse- 
cutions of the unfortunate victims of their superstition or 
hatred, the dreadful phantom temporarily disappeared within 
the dark recesses of their hearts, where it remained latent for 
several generations. But in this nineteenth century, amono- 
the descendants and blood-relations of the same Puritans the 
hend has agam made his appearance, and now holds his s'way 
over millions of deluded individuals. The organizations and 
churches of these disorganizers extend all over the Northern 
Middle, and Western States, and they can hail their adher- 
ents m Cabinet, Congress, press, pulpit, court, club, and 
every walk of life. Opposed to the Christian religion de- 
nying the divine mission of Christ, and ever seeking to sub- 
vert the existing condition of morals and social order, these 
men have naturally attached themselves to the radical faction 
as affording them the best opportunity of carrying out their 
mnovatmg designs. In their ranks are many men of talent 
and literary culture, and their system of proselyting is in the 
highest degree insidious and Machiavellian. They will pre- 
sent you with profound maxims of philosophy, with beautiful 
gems from.the classics, with rare and curious treasures from 
ancient lore, and pander to all your preconceived notions 
and prejudices but one. Unfortunately for the credulous 
victim, this one point of difference consists in his belief in the 
inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and the divinity of Christ. 
Every argument which ingenuity can devise is brouo^ht to 
bear to throw discredit upon the Bible, and to substitirte for 
Its sacred doctrines and commandments, the rationalistic ideas 
and practices of modern spiritualism. 

Other legitimate offspring of the Puritan system are, a 



PUSITANISM m THE UNITED STATES. 417 

great increase of the various forms of open and avowed 
rationalism and skepticism. The number of adherents and 
supporters of these various sects or classes in the United 
States has been estimated at Jive millions. In common with 
the spiritualists, nearly all these persons deny the divinity 
of Christ, and regard Ilis teachings as of less consequence 
than the maxims of Plato or Aristotle. Their elastic doc- 
trines are so framed that they can adapt themselves to every 
conceivable prejudice of the human mind, as well as to any 
given political or social condition. These men are constantly 
indulging in Utopian schemes of progress. Measuring 
every thing in accordance with their own ideas of fitness, 
fancying defects in all existing arrangements, they are natu- 
rally innovators and disorganizers ; and, had they power, 
would reverse the laws of nature, overthrow all political, 
moral, and social order, and reorganize a world after a new 
and more radical pattern. So far as the Christian religion 
squares .with their standards and their rational hypotheses, 
they tolerate and patronize it ; but in all cases where it fails 
to coincide with the " great moral ideas of Radicalism," it is 
sneered at and practically repudiated. 

No candid man can contemplate the conduct of these 
rationalistic leaders and their allies, the radical parsons of 
the ISTorth, during the past six years, without instinctively 
ranking them as "false teachers," "false prophets," and, 
practically, infidels. IsTo one can call to mind the partisan 
frenzy of these eloquent lecturers, writers, and pulpit poli- 
ticians during the past few years, without shuddering at the 
demoralization and depravity of classes of men professing to 
be teachers of great moral ideas, and pastors of the Prince 
of Peace. 

During the very darkest period of the mediaeval ages, in the 
middle of the tenth century, when Normandy was attacked 
and subjugated by the heathen Norsemen under RoUo, the 
vanquished Christians of France were treated by these wor- 
shippers of Thor and Odin with greater magnanimity and 
forbearance than the vanquished people of the Southern 
18* 



418 CDEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

States are treated by the radical Christians of this nineteenth 
century. The rude pirates from Denmark and Norway, 
after they had taken forcible possession of Rouen, Bayeux, 
and other cities and provinces of ]N'ormandy, and disarmed 
the natiA-e inhabitants, scorned to pursue with vengeance 
and oppression the unresisting Normans beyond simple sub- 
jugation and submission. They scorned to hold their pros- 
trate victims by the throat after war had ceased, under the 
pretext that they still harbored sentiments of hostility, and 
might not obey in all respects their conquerors. But the 
radical Christians of the present day entertain no such scru- 
ples respecting mercy, humanity, and forgiveness. Happy 
would it be for the subjugated South, as well as for the sta- 
bility of the Republic, could they exchange their ferocious 
and tyrannical conquerors of 1867 for Rollo and his barbarian 
hosts of 945. They would meet with more mercy at the 
hands of the heathen priests of Thor and Odin than from 
the pseudo-Christian ministers and legislators of modern 
radicalism. 

There would be some hope in the midst of our waning 
liberties, and steady decay of democratic and republican in- 
stitutions, were it not for the almost universal licentiousness 
and depravation of the people of the North. As in imperial 
Rome, after the downfall of the republic, the public senti- 
ment of this disunited nation has become corrupted and de- 
bauched. By means of a mercenary pr^torian guard, the 
Csesars of the first two centuries of the Christian era were 
able to manipulate the debased Roman senates as tyranny 
dictated ; while the unarmed and powerless Roman citizens 
were amused with the exciting displays of the Colosseum, the 
race-courses, and the temples of heathen worship and bac- 
chanalian revels. Here a corrupt and fanatical Congress, 
with the army at its back, rules both President and people,' 
and, by unconstitutional and partisan enactments, they have 
firmly bound him and the nation in radical chains. 

Among the results which have already accrued from this 
partisan legislation arc, the destruction of more than half a 



PURITANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 



419 



million of ignorant and helpless blacks by war, pestilence, 
and famine, and the probable extermination of the balance 
in a few generations. The red men of the United States 
are practically exterminated; and the black men will ere 
long meet the same fate. This is termed philanthropy and 
Christian civilization; but impartial history will designate 
these acts as barbarous. 

As the degenerate Romans advanced toward their down- 
fall, laws were multiplied, and existing statutes altered and 
amended at the instigation of ambitious demagogues, imtil 
scarcely a trace of the original constitution of the republic 
could be recognized. Thus all respect for established laws 
gradually ceased, and the arbitrary will of the emperors, 
promulgated by subservient senates, 'was the only acknowl- 
edged law. The history of all nations demonstrates that 
the unnecessary multiplication of laws and official bureaux, 
with their attendant expenditures, invariably leads to na- 
tional corruption and ultimate decay. 

Similar events are now transpiring in the disrupted Re- 
public of IsTortb America. The great statesmen and patriots 
are all dead, and demagogues rule the destinies of the na- 
tion. The glorious Constitution, and the wise laws of the 
eminent statesmen and fathers of the Republic have been so 
mutilated and perverted by the political Goths and Vandals 
at Washington, as scarcely to be recognized as the offspring 
of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, and Webster. 
The organic statutes which have presided over the Republic 
for nearly a century, and have conduced so highly to the 
general prosperity and happiness, are now being daily dese- 
crated and torn in fragments by political pigmies in the halls 
of Congress. Woe be to the nation when such men stand in 
the places of the departed statesmen and patriots of the past ! 
Woe be to those sections which have been subjugated and 
enslaved by these vindictive Congressional ISTeros ! God 
grant that a Clay or a Webster may soon appear, who will 
grapple with the political charlatans of a sectional Congress, 
and arrest the progress of fanaticism and national decay. 



420 CHSISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

In some respects the condition of America at the pres- 
ent time is similar to that which cursed England under 
Cromwell and the Long Parliament. In 1649 Puritanical 
radicahsm reached its climax in England. The people clam- 
ored for a change of government, of laws, and of the consti- 
tution, as well as for the Mood of the king and his friends. 
They sent Charles I. to the block, tampered with all the 
ancient landmarks of order, and public and private security, 
and altered and amended every law, statute, and even the 
constitution itself, until the liberties of the people were anni- 
hilated. Efforts were made to restrict the very laws of na- 
ture by legal enactments, and the exuberant health and spir- 
its of the happy Englishman were barred up within their' 
mortal enclosures, lest their escape should diffuse geniality 
and happiness. But Englishmen could not long submit to 
the Pharisaical spirit and domination of these early radicals. 
In alluding to them Macaulay thus writes : " The fine arts 
were all but proscribed. The solemn peal of the organ was 
superstitious. The light music of Ben Jonson's masques was 
dissolute. Half the fine paintings in England were idola- 
trous, and the other half indecent. The extreme Puritan 
was at once known from other men by his gait, his garb, his 
lank hair, the sour solemnity of his face, the upturned white 
of his eyes, the nasal twang with which he spoke, and, above 
all, his peculiar dialect." * 

This canting "nasal twang" is still a characteristic of 
Puritanism throughout New England, and among their de- 
scendants in all parts of the world. As in the days of Crom- 
well and his Roundheads, the Puritans are still "lank-haired," 
" nasal-tongued," Judas-visaged, and canting. In England 
a few years sufficed to disgust the people with the mad fanat- 
icism of Cromwell and his partisan faction, and to incline 
them to return to a reign of law, order, and justice. It was 
a happy day for England when her much-abused children 
repudiated the policy of Cromwell and his Long Parlia- 

* " History of England," vol. i., p. 61. 



PURITANISM m THE UOTTED STATES. 421 

merit, and restored to the throne their lawful sovereign, 
Charles 11. 

These pages are written in April, 1867, when Northern 
radicalism is in the ascendant, Avhile their reckless Congres- 
sional resolutions and amendments are subverting the exist- 
ing Constitution and laws, and while millions of treasure are 
being squandered in keeping up a Freedmen's Bureau, a large 
partisan army, and other useless organizations for the perpet- 
uation of the ruling party. But ^Ye A^enture a prediction. 
Ere long the apparent prosperity and the high A^alues will 
prove to be fictitious, because founded on a monstrous and 
abnormal expansion of paper currency. The burdens of tax- 
ation are bearing heavily upon all classes, and the mountain 
of public debt rises higher and higher daily. The toiling 
laborer finds himself taxed for all the necessaries of life. 
Nearly one-half his life's blood and his vitality are forever 
pledged to pay taxes on an unjustly large national debt. 
While tens of thousands of farmers, mechanics, and day-la- 
borers are painfully toiling for bread for themselves and fam- 
ilies, deprived of most of the comforts and luxuries to which 
they were formerly accustomed, the first avails of their labors 
are seized by tax-gatherers to feed, clothe, and educate four 
millions of indolent blacks, and to sustain the expensive po- 
litical machinery of partisan radicalism. Paper expansion 
has unduly augmented every branch of trade and manufac- 
ture, until markets are overstocked and business has serious- 
ly declined. Financial troubles are impending, and must 
ere long culminate in a general suspension or diminution of 
commercial and industrial enterprises, and the legitimate 
consequences of w^ant of employment, and distress and suifer- 
ing among the laboring classes. Then will come the crash, 
riots, struggles for shelter, bread, and other necessaries of 
existence. Then will a deceived and injured people be driven 
by hunger, want, and sufferings of all kinds, to seek out and 
grapple with the fanatical authors of their calamities. Then 
will a just retribution fall upon these political Neros who 
have robbed the Eepublio of her treasures and her liberties. 



422 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

The Frencli Revolution, witli its " reign of terroi'j" was a 
simple and direct result of over-taxation. The expensive 
wars which Louis XIV. had waged with England and other 
countries had raised a large national debt ; and the corrup- 
tions of subsequent rulers only served to increase it until its 
burdens became intolerable to the workingmen of the king- 
dom. This excessive taxation, with its consequent sufier- 
ings, was the direct cause of the Revolution of 1789. The 
same cause and the same consequences may lead to a similar 
reaction in this country within the next few years. 

As the Romans of the empire centralized their power in 
Rome, and held the surrounding nations which their legions 
had conquered in slavish subjection as vassals, so have the 
American radicals of the present day centralized their power 
in Washington; and they now hold in vassalage the van- 
quished people of the Southern States. 

After the present partisan madness shall have passed 
away, and reason again shall resume sway, the world will 
contemplate with amazement the acts which have been per- 
petrated in this pseudo-Republic by the dominant party 
during the past six years. The simple fiat of any one of the 
special tools of radicalism has been able at any time to oblit- 
erate practically the Constitution of Washington and the 
fathers, and to substitute in its stead his own arbitrary and 
vindictive will. American citizens— men and women— have 
been torn from their families without cause, without process 
of law, and without accusation, and consigned to damp and 
deadly dungeons for months and years in blind obedience to 
the caprices or personal malice of individuals. Some of these 
victims have perished in prison, some are still in confinement, 
and others have been liberated with impaired constitutions — 
innocent, unaccused, and impoverished. At the instigation 
of these partisans, all important elections have been held 
under military dictation, and the elective franchise has been 
converted into a bitter mockery. Entire regiments, crews of 
men-of-war, and communities have been forced, under military 
coercion, to cast their votes at the dictation of radical ofiicers 



PUEITANISM m THE UNITED STATES. 423 

and detectives. Every species of corruption, fraud, and 
intimidation has been brought to bear by these men, to pre- 
vent a free and fair expression of opinion at the ballot-box. 
Acts have been committed by these politicians which no 
monarch of England could have perpetrated within the past 
five hundred years without the loss of his crown and his 
head.* 

The following graphic portraiture, by Lord Macaulay, of 
one of the monsters of the French Revolution of 1789, Ber- 
trand Barrere, applies so admirably to at least one of these 
radical partisans, that we quote it in this connection as a sin- 
gular phenomenon that two human beings so utterly depraved 
could exist within the space of a single century. The world 
will be at a loss in the attempt to decide as to which of 
these two creatures deserves the lowest degree of contempt 
and execration. As the scales of infamy are so evenly bal- 
anced between them, we shall express no opinion, but submit 
a brief delineation of the prominent traits of each individual, 
and refer the decision to the reader. 

After deliberate investigation of all the facts respecting 
Barrere, as presented in the " Memoires de Bertrand Barrere," 
published by M. Hippolyte Carnot, in Paris, 1843, Macau- 
lay thus writes : " Our opinion, then, is this : that Barrere 
approached nearer than any person mentioned in history or 
fiction, whether man or devil, to the idea of consummate and 
universal depravity. In him the qualities which are the 
proper objects of hatred, and the qualities which are the 
proper objects of contempt, preserve an exquisite and absolute 
harmony. In almost every particular sort of wickedness he 

has had rivals There have been many men as cowardly 

as he, some as cruel, a few as mean, a few as impudent. 
There may also have been as great liars, though we never 
met with them or read of them. But when we put every 
thing together — sensuahty, poltroonery, baseness, effrontery, 

* As an example of these tyrannical and fraudulent proceedings, we refer the 
reader to the arrest, imprisonment, and mock trial of Colonel Samuel North, 
Levi Cohn, and Marvin M. Jones, in the Presidential election of 1864. 



424 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS- 

mendacity, barbarity- — tlie result is something which in a novel 
we should condemn as caricature, and to which, we venture 
to say, no parallel can be found in history. 

" It would be grossly u.njust, we acknowledge, to try a 
man situated as Barrere was, by a severe standard. N'or 
have we done so. We have formed our opinion of him by 
comparing him, not with politicians of stainless character, 
not with Chancellor D'Aguesseau, or General Washington, 
or Mr. Wilberforce, or Earl Grey, but with his own colleagues 
of the Mountain. That party included a considerable num- 
ber of the worst men that ever lived ; but we see in it nothing 
like Barrere. Compared with him, Fouche seems honest; 
Billaud seems humane ; Hebert seems to rise into dignity. 

* Every other chief of a party,' says M. Hippolyte Carnot, 

* has found apologists ; one set of men exalts the Girondists ; 
another set justifies Danton ; a third deifies Robespierre ; but 
Barrere has remained without a defender.' We venture to 
suggest a very simple solution of this phenomenon. All of 
the other chiefs of parties had some good qualities, and 
Barrere had none. . . . This weakest and most servile of human 
beings found himself on a sudden an actor in a revolution 
which convulsed the whole civilized world. At first, he fell 
under the influence of humane and moderate men, and talked 
the language of humanity and moderation. But he soon 
found himself surrounded by fierce and resolute spirits, scared 
by no danger and restrained by no scruple. He had to 
choose whether he would be their victim or their accomplice. 
His choice was soon made. He tasted blood, and felt no 
loathing; he tasted it again, and liked it v/ell. Cruelty be- 
came with him first a habit, then a passion, at last a madness. 
So complete and rapid was the degeneracy of his nature, that 
within a very few months after the time v/hen he had passed 
for a good-natured man, he had brought himself to look on 
the despair and misery of his fellow-creatures with a glee 
resembling that of the fiends whom Dante saw watching the 
pool of seething pitch in Malebolge. He had many associates 
in guilt ; but lie distinguished himself from them all by the 



PUEITANISM m THE Ul-iflTED STATES. 425 

bacchanalian exultation whicli he seemed to feel in the work 
of death. He was drunk with innocent and noble blood, 
laughed and shouted as he butchered, and howled strange 

songs and reeled in strange dances amidst the carnage 

Having appalled the whole world by great crimes perpetrated 
under the pretence of zeal for liberty, he became the meanest 
of all the tools of despotism. .... Whatsoever things are 
false, whatsoever things are dishonest, whatsoever things are 
unjust, whatsoever things are impure, whatsoever things are 
hateful, whatsoever things are of evil report, if there be any 
vice, and if there be any infamy, all these things, we knew , 

were blended in Barrere Something more we had to say 

about him, but let him go ; we did not seek him out, and will 
not keep him longer. If those who call themselves his friends 
had not forced him on our notice, we should never have 
vouchsafed to him more than a passing word of scorn and 
abhorrence, such as we might fling at his brethren Hebert 
and Fouquier Tinville, and Carrier and Lebon. We have no 
pleasure in seeing human nature thus degraded. We turn 
with disgust from the filthy and spiteful Yahoos of the fiction ; 
and the filthiest and most spiteful Yahoo of the fiction was a 
noble creature when compared with the Barrere of history. 
But what is no pleasure M. Hippolyte Carnot has made a 

duty By attempting to enshrine this Jacobin carrion, 

he has forced us to gibbet it ; and we venture to say that 
from the eminence of infamy on which we have placed it, he 
will not easily take it down." * 

Thousands of persecuted and bereaved men, women, and 
children of the United States can rise up to-day, and in their 
impoverishment and wretchedness brand the radical tyrants 
of our epoch with the damning characters v/hich the great 
English historian has so indelibly affixed to Barrere. All 
respectable individuals throughout the civilized world, regard 
these modern American embodiments of the French Jacobin 
Committee of Public Safety — the Barreres, the Robespierres, 
the St. Justs, the Couthons, the Collots, the Billauds of the 
* The Works of Lord Macaulay, vol. vii., pp. 124, 203. 



426 CHKISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

revolutionary tribunal of 1789 — with undisguised abhor- 
rence and execration. From their thrones emperors and 
kings can contemplate with contemptuous mockery an 
entire nation subjected to the despotic will and the crushing 
tyrannies of cowardly, treacherous, mendacious, and sangui- 
nary officials for years in succession. With infinite compla- 
cency they can contrast the innumerable arbitrary arrests 
and imprisonments which have occurred in this country dur- 
ing the past five years, with their own more just and merciful 
laws. They can hurl back upon us with justice, as well as 
with scorn the terms despotism, tyranny, usurpation, op- 
pression. 

In every one of the radical Jacobins of the French Revo- 
lution except Barrere, Macaulay could find some redeeming 
trait, some germ of the better emotions of humanity. In like 
manner may be found some redeeming point in each of the 
sanguinary radicals of the American Revolution of 1861, 
except one. These two men will stand alone on the highest 
roll of infamy in the future pages of history. 

When Lord Macaulay sketched this portraiture of Barrere, 
he fully believed that he was the most infamous man of 
the world. But he was mistaken. One man had lived be- 
fore the French Revolution, and one has lived since, who are 
his peers in the characteristics enumerated by the English 
writer. Every one will instinctively acknowledge this fact 
when he calls to mind the betrayer of the Saviour, and the 
radical Barrere of America. If any exception can be taken to 
this classification, it must be in favor of Judas, who had the 
grace to go and hang himself rather than survive his mon- 
strous iniquities. 

Robespierre, Marat, St. Just, Hebert, Tinville, Danton, 
and even Barrere, all had their defenders among the radicals 
of the Mountain, during the French reign of terror ; but 
when the madness of the hour had passed away, the entire 
civilized world regarded them with execration and abhor- 
rence. So had Iscariot his defenders among the Pharisees 
of Caiaphas, for a single generation ; but since that period he 



PUEITAKIBM IN THE UNITED STATES. 427 

has been despised and detested by every Christian, Jew, 
Pagan, and Turk, in the universe. Nor is it impossible that 
even the Barrere of the present day may have his defenders 
among the most shameless radical fanatics of this American 
reign of terror and despotism ; but when the present parti- 
san frenzy shall have subsided, and reason and justice again 
resume sway, he will be remembered by all mankind with 
loathing, curses, and shuddering horror. 

We have drawn a pen-and-ink sketch. We leave it for 
the reader to find the original. At all events, when the 
present hideous despotism is ended, and the masses of the 
people shall have awakened from their political debauch, 
public opinion will trace on the world's tablet of crime the 
name of this monster in letters of blood. 

IsTo one can peruse the history of the French reign of 
terror — ^its Committee of Public Safety, its Revolutionary Tri- 
bunal, its Bureau of Justice, its spy-system, and its Bastiles — 
without recognizing a perfect prototype in the recent radical 
reign of terror in the United States. The same desperate 
class of men were in possession of both governments, and sim- 
ilar acts of wanton atrocity and vindictiveness characterized 
both parties. If Jacobin France had her " Committee of Pub- 
lic Safety," presided over by such monsters as Robespierre, 
Barrere, St. Just, Couthon,Billaud, and Collot, radical Amer- 
ica also had her committee of public safety in the Committee 
on the Conduct of the War. When the verdict of posterity 
shall be rendered as to the comparative depravity and infamy 
of the two committees, humanity will shudder in awe and in 
silence on the rendition of the decision, but the imps of dark- 
ness will award the palm to the more modern one with 
acclamation. Under both of these reigns of terror, every 
citizen who presumed to dissei;it from the fanatical and san- 
guinary policy of the French Jacobins, or the American rad- 
icals — the party of the "Mountain," or the faction of the 
" Rump" — was vilified, denounced, and mercilessly crushed 
by the mad fiends in power. The most exalted abilities, the 
most perfect competency, the highest personal excellence, 



428 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

were no protection against their malignant attacks. The 
most noble, talented, and pure were special objects of both 
Jacobin and radical vengeance. 

Contrast the Jacobin bureauof military justice, under the 
auspices of Marat, Danton, and Tinville, with the American 
radical bureau of military justice. Both were organized for 
purposes of partisan and personal vengeance, both were con- 
trolled by the vilest leaders of the several factions, both were 
manipulated by the mercenary and unscrupulous agents of the 
desperate leaders, both were bitter mockeries of justice, honor, 
and the very decencies of society. Both attempted to palliate 
their atrocious acts under the plea of extreme public danger, 
and the necessity of prompt and summary measures. Both 
perpetrated their judicial enormities in the name of liberty. 
Both had their public accusers and judge-advocates, and both 
were organized to convict. 

If we examine the laws of evidence which were adopted 
by both the French Jacobin and the American radical 
revolutionary tribunals, we shall find that the latter was 
almost an exact copy of the former. Lord Macaulay thus 
sums up the prominent parts of this novel legal code : " The 
substantive law was simply this, that whatever the tribunal 
should think pernicious to the republic was a capital crime. 
The law of evidence was simply this, that what satisfied the 
jurors was sufficient proof. The law of procedure was of a 
piece with every thing else. There was to be an advocate 
against the prisoner, and no advocate for him. It was ex- 
pressly declared that if the jurors were in any manner con- 
vinced of the guilt of the prisoner, they might convict hioi 
Vvdthout hearing a single witness." * 

If we turn to the Jacobin spy-system under the control 
of the infamous Fouche, an organization established by Eo- 
bespierreand his Committee of Public Safety, for the express 
purpose of dogging the steps of personal enemies, and, under 
the pretext of military necessity, of arresting them arbitrarily, 
and shutting them up in French prisons, or sending them to 
* The Works of Lord Macaulay, vol. vii., p. 174. 



PUEITANISM m THE U]SriTED STATES. 429 

the guillotine, we shall also find its counterpart in the late 
American revolution. It was not easy to find in America a 
man with the peculiar qualities requisite to manage this dia- 
bolical institution. But in time an individual floated to the 
surface, and the hideous engine was placed in working or- 
der. To enumerate the many crimes, the suppression of 
Democratic presses, the arbitrary arrests, the persecutions, 
the torturings, the imprisonments, and the destruction of pri- 
vate fortunes, health, and life, which have occurred under this 
atrocious spy-system, would sicken and disgust every true 
American. The records of these inhumanities will forever 
stand as a monument for the curses and execration of future 
ages ; and the names of the cowardly miscreants who insti- 
gated them, in common with those of their Jacobin proto- 
types of the French reign of terror, will be shuddered at by 
all future readers of history. IN'ow, after the radical reign 
of terror is partially over, after imtold miseries have been 
wrought upon thousands of innocent victims, the supreme 
judicial tribunal of the nation has pronounced the entire pro- 
ceedings unconstitutional and arbitrary. But the personal 
and partisan vengeance of half a score of radical malign ants, 
has been glutted to satiety ; they can gloat over the wrecks, 
the ruin, the wretchedness which they have caused, and still 
hold up their heads in mockery and defiance, because a hu- 
miliated and depraved people has not yet dared to subject 
them to the infamy and the penalties which are their due. 
But, ere long, the crisis of Thermidor will come ; the legiti- 
mate fruits of radical misrule will manifest themselves in 
financial and commercial disasters, in the paralyzation of in- 
dustry, and in sufierings of all kinds. Then will a reaction 
occur, and the authors of these calamities will be dragged 
forth by a starving and enraged populace to receive their 
reward. For, let it not be supposed that the evils of the 
tyrannical usurpation to which we have alluded will termi- 
nate with the revolution itself. These evils are not yet fully 
developed; a sufficient time has not yet elapsed to allow the 
festering gangrene of ISTorthern radicalism to pervade all the 



430 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

ramifications of society. The reaction from the great revo- 
lutionary fever is not yet strongly pronounced; but signs of 
weakness are everywhere apparent — signs which point to 
eventual prostration and possible decay. The evils which 
Macaulay has attributed to the French Eevolution may with 
equal justice be applied to our own : 

" We could, we think, also show that the evils produced 
by the Jacobin admiDistration did not terminate when it fell ; 
that it bequeathed a long series of calamities to France and 
to Europe; that public opinion, which had during two gen- 
erations been continually becoming more and more favorable 
to civil and religious freedom, underwent, during the days of 
terror, a change of which the traces are still to be distinctly 
perceived. It was natural that there should be such a change, 
when men saw that those who called themselves the cham- 
pions of popular rights had compressed into the space of twelve 
months more crimes than the kings of France — Merovingian, 
Carlovingian, and Capetian — had perpetrated in twelve cen- 
turies And so, in politics, it is the same law that every 

excess shall generate its opposite ; nor does he deserve the 
name of a statesman who strikes a great blow without fully 
calculating the effect of the rebound." * 

What was the result of this "rebound " after the Jacobin 
revolution ? A universal clamor for a monarchy, for a strong 
and consolidated government, for a restraint upon the un- 
bridled passions of individuals. What was the result of the 
rebound after the revolution of Cromwell and his Round- 
heads in England ? An overwhelming demand for Charles 
IL and the monarchical system. In self-defence, for security 
of person and property, to obtain order, tranquillity, justice, 
and prosperity, the people with one accord denounced the 
revolutionary agitators, and flew from the destructive ex- 
periments of political visionaries and fanatics to kings and 
monarchies. What has been thus far the effect of the re- 
bound after our own revolution ? A subversion of the Con- 
stitution, an overthrow of the executive and judicial branches 
*Tlie Works of Lord Macaulay, vol. vii., pp. 199, 200. 



PUEITANISM m THE UNITED STATES. 431 

of the government, and a consolidation of power in the hands 
of a sectional faction and a sectional Congress. Will the 
people ere long in self-defence demand a more stable and 
just government — a monarchy? Time alone will show us. 

We entreat the more sane of the dominant party of the 
North to regard attentively these tableaux of 1789 and 1867, 
and cease their mad struggles for power and vengeance. At 
all events, now that the great struggle is ended, let a meas- 
ure of reason, charity, and humanity become incorporated in 
the councils of the nation. Let them repudiate and dismiss 
from Washington those demons of iniquity and crime who 
have prostrated republican liberty, and degraded the gov- 
ernment in the estimation of every civilized people on earth. 
In their vindictive efforts against the vanquished South, let 
the modern radicals and Puritans of jN'ew England remember 
that the patriot sires of Virginia and South Carolina sent 
cargoes of rice, flour, grain, and other provisions to the fam- 
ishing inhabitants of Boston who, in 1775, were suffering 
from the rigid blockade by the ships and troops of George 
III., and pause in their career of tyranny and vengeance. 

1^0 popular government can long sustain itself under a 
sectional usurpation of power. It matters not what cause or 
causes may have led to such usurpation, or what military 
and financial strength may be brought to its support ; for the 
principle and spirit of republicanism is entirely antagonistic 
to political sectionalism and exclusiveness in all forms. A 
government of the people can never be controlled by an ex- 
clusive sectional faction, except at the expense of free insti- 
tutions and civil liberty. The exclusive possession of power 
by a part of a people, with special rights and privileges, im- 
plies despotism, although it is the despotism of a part^ in- 
stead of a single man. The fathers of the American Republic 
framed their Constitution with a view of guarding against so 
great a calamity, by reserving to every State the right to 
regulate its own domestic affairs in all matters pertaining 
to the State itself. These State powers, as well as those be- 
longing to the Federal Government, were clearly defined 



4:32 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONELIOTS. 

by the eminent statesmen and patriots of the Revolution. 
But what has the boasted civilization of the past quarter 
of a century accomplished respecting civil and religious lib- 
erty, and human progress and happiness ? Let the mad con- 
tentions of the disunion radical faction South, and of the no 
less disunion radical faction ;N"orth, and the bloody civil war, 
and the hideous desolation they have brought upon the na- 
tion, answer. Let that bitter mockery of a republican form 
of government, which now exists at the national capital, 
answer. Let the paralyzed industry of six millions of Amer- 
ican citizens in time of profound peace, and the military 
satraps who rule them by martial laws, reply. Let the sacri- 
legious prohibitions against divine worship throughout the 
South, unless conjoined with politics, respond. Let the an- 
nual decimation of the freedmen of the South, from starva- 
tion and exposure, tell us. Let the small army of govern- 
ment contractors and partisans, with their thousands of mil- 
lions of untaxable government securities, and paid for by the 
hard earnings and the high taxes of the poor man, rejoin. 

In the terrible struggle which has so recently afflicted 
our land, the mad fanatics of the South who commenced hos- 
tilities, and urged their countrymen to battle, are guilty of 
the greatest crimes ; but no less guilty are the Puritanical 
fanatics of Kew England, who have systematically goaded 
them on to this state of bitterness and frenzy. Had that 
mutual forbearance and conciliation obtained, which was 
taught by Washington and his compatriots, as well as by 
Jackson, Clay, and Webster, and had words of kindness and 
fraternity been spoken and written instead of those of passion 
and bitterness, all national and State evils would have been 
gradually and safely corrected, and true Christian civiliza- 
tion would have progressed rather than have declined. If 
the example of the Saviour had been followed, of gradually 
educating individuals up to the proper standard of Christian 
love and morality, abuses would have been spontaneously 
corrected, and peace and harmony would ever have pre- 
vailed. 



PTJEITANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 433 

It was a sad hour when our happy country was left with- 
out a single statesman ; a sad hour when the last great states- 
men and patriots of America, Clay and Webster, were sum- 
moned from the earth; a sad hour when sectional dema- 
gogues and Puritanical fanatics seized the reins of power, 
and ruled the destinies of the nation. 

If it be urged that all this fraternal strife and blood- 
shed has resulted in the abolition of slavery, we reply that 
forcible and abrupt abolition is synonymous with extermina- 
tion. Facts demonstrate that nearly one-fourth part of the 
liberated negroes have died from exposure, hunger, and dis- 
ease within the past six years, while the remaining portion 
are so demoralized, ignorant, and helpless, that a few genera- 
tions will extinguish them. This may be regarded by ]:^orth- 
ern Christians as pMlantJiropy, but the verdict of posterity 
will be harbarism. In the terrible contest JsTorthern passion 
has triumphed over Southern passion, and the South is now 
crushed and bruised under the savage and vengeful heel of 
the ISTorth ; but the same elements of hatred and strife are 
still dormant, and will burst forth again at no distant day. 
As hatred and vindictiveness always generate their like 
whenever indulged in by individuals or communities, so do 
the results always correspond. Strike and mutilate an 
enemy already under your feet, yet a day of retribution may 
come. 

We commend to these self-styled " loyalists," these self- 
constituted guardians of public morals, these military dis- 
pensers of political, social, moral, and religious codes to 
sovereign States, these monopolizers of " great moral ideas," 
the following pertinent quotation from Christ's sermon upon 
the mount : " Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with 
what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what 
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And 
why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, 
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye ? Or 
how wilt thou say to thy brother. Let me pull out the mote 
out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye ? 
19 



434r CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, 
and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote out of 
thy brother's eye. 

" Ye have heard that it hath heen said, An eye for an 
eye, and a tooth for a tooth : but I say unto you, that ye re- 
sist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right 
cheek, turn to him the other also. 

" Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, 
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to 
them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully 
use you and persecute you. 

" Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the 
children of God. 

" Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should 
do to you, do ye even so to them ; for this is the law and the 
prophets." 

We especially commend these divine sentiments to those 
belligerent parsons who have converted their pulpits, during 
the past six years, into political and partisan tribunes, from 
whence they have appealed to the worst passions of their 
hearers, and urged them on to hatred and Avar against their 
erring brethren. 

It must be evident to all impartial observers, that the ex- 
treme measures which have recently been consummated by 
the dominant party of the United States against the Consti- 
tution and the integrity of the Union, as well as against the 
vanquished section, are legitimate fruits of the Puritan sys- 
tem. The origin and character of the leading actors, as well 
as their opinions and actions, indicate the sources and foun- 
tains from whence the inspiration has been derived. 



CHAPTEE XXXII. 

PUKITANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Influence on the Religious Sentiment, 

The world is full of skepticism. All tlie tendencies of 
the age incline in this direction. Throughout Christendom 
men of the highest genius are continually devoting their 
talents and their energies to throw discredit upon the Holy 
Scriptures, to inculcate doubts respecting the miracles of 
Christ and His apostles, and to subordinate all religion to 
the test of inductive philosophy. The natural inclinations 
of men are opposed to every thing which stands in the way 
of self-indulgence ; and when the instinctive propensities 
have full sway, they invariably lead to infidelity and irreli- 
gion. Innumerable facts illustrative of this position may be 
found in all ages of the world. 

Since the Christian era the same natural tendencies have 
existed, but, up to the period of the Reformation, they were 
held in check by the discipline, the restraints, and the graces 
of the Catholic Church. 

Since the Reformation the world has been advancing 
steadily toward that condition of religious skepticism and 
irreligion which existed in the Roman empire at the birth of 
the Saviour. Under the convenient pretext of freedom of 
conscience, men have erected their own private standards of 
religious faith, and, by corrupt interpretations of Holy Writ, 
have endeavored to bring down the sacred truths of Christ 



436 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

to a level with these various and conflicting individual ia- 
ventions. As generation after generation has appeared and 
disappeared, creeds and sects have multiplied, men of genius 
and talent have entered the arena as controversialists, and 
founders of new hypotheses and new doctrines have been 
brought into the contest, so that all children born of Prot- 
estant parents have literally been at the mercy of eloquent 
sectaries. 

Fair examples of the general tendencies of the religious 
sentiment of the present day may be found in the writings 
of Strauss and his fellow-Materialists of Germany, Renan 
and his fellow-Rationalists of France, and Parker and his 
fellow Unitarians and Universalists of Korth America. The 
object of Strauss and his friends is to overthrow the entire 
Christian system established by Jesus; while Kenan and 
Parker virtually deny the divinity of Christ, and accept only 
such portions of the Christian system as square with their 
own peculiar theories. The works of these writers are ably 
written, and abound in novel and interesting facts. They 
are thus calculated to captivate the unwary, to convince the 
wavering and credulous by learned sophistries, and to under- 
mine the very foundations of the Christian faith. We re- 
gard the writings of these gentlemen as far more dangerous 
than those of avowed atheists, because their attacks are more 
insidious, and more replete with sophistries and apparent re- 
gard for Christianity. 

In contemplating the standards of civilization adopted by 
modern Puritans and Pationalists, their contempt for the 
spiritual and moral element, and their exaltation of material- 
ism, we may understand why the religious sentiment has be- 
come so debased in the United States, and why the mass of 
the people regard with approbation any injustice which may 
be perpetrated against those who are opposed to them in re- 
ligion or politics. A certain religious, moral, industrial, and 
political theory has been introduced by the combined forces 
of New England Puritanism and Rationalism, and nearly 
all previous ideas of religion, morals, and government, have 



PUEITANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 437 

been set aside to make way for the novel and " progressive " 
hypotheses. 

A casual examination of the present religious sentiment 
of the United States will astonish and sadden the Christian 
observer, in consequence of the almost infinite diversity of 
doctrines, sects, and forms of worship which he will every- 
where find. This lack of religious unity is almost universal 
among Protestants. Unfortunately for Christianity, these 
religious diversities have generated and developed numerous 
phases of skepticism and irreligion. Under the sanction of 
the fallacious and highly mischievous Protestant idea that 
every individual, however stupid, ignorant, vicious, or erratic 
he may chance to be, is competent to analyze and interpret 
the sacred mysteries of Holy Writ, Protestant America has 
been split up into thousands of conflicting and semi-hostile 
sects. These subdivisions pervade towns, villages, parishes, 
and families. Wherever a ^ dozen Protestants are congrega- 
ted, scarcely two of them coincide in opinion, or seek the 
same church. Enter the family circle, and you often find the 
same conflict respecting religious faith and worship, and a 
continual clashing of views in the rearing and education of 
children. With such examples of religious discord and vari- 
ation, it is not strange that such multitudes of the rising 
generation are engulfed in the depths of infidelity. 

Under the name of Rationalism, many forms of skepticism 
have been established throughout the United States. Every 
one of these Rationalists denies every thing in the Scriptures 
which does not coincide with reason and natural logic. Un- 
der the inspiration of the Puritan catch-words, " liberty of 
thought," and " freedom of conscience," millions have rushed 
with reckless indiflerence into the numerous skeptical and 
irreligious organizations of the day. 

Unity of faith is a fundamental principle of true Christi- 
anity. Our Divine Master insisted upon the importance of 
this principle, and, in order that it should not be violated, 
the Christian flock was commanded to be obedient to their 
shepherds and pastors, as an integral part of the universal 



438 CHEISTlAlflTY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Church. The disciples were informed that false teachers 
should arise with new and strange doctrines, but they were 
earnestly cautioned against them, and urged to remain with- 
in the one fold, under their divinely-appointed teachers and 
shepherds. A contemplation of these simple facts and in- 
junctions, and of the endless variations of the sects, must 
fill the minds of all real Christians with sadness. 

In order to demonstrate the fearful results of the Puritan 
system in America, we have endeavored to bring together, 
in a brief tabular form, the numbers and present status of 
the Atheists, Deists, Skeptics, Rationalists, Spiritualists, Uni- 
versalists, Unitarians, Jews, etc., of the United States. Much 
time and trouble have been expended in order to procure 
reliable and accurate data on which to base our statistical 
arrangement, but we have found the task difficult, and in 
some respects far from satisfactory. Enough, however, has 
been accomplished to enable us to approximate very closely 
to the numbers of the various classes which we have enumer- 
ated. Absolute accuracy has been impossible ; but we have 
consulted many of the leading and most reliable men of each 
class, and have examined such statistical facts as we could 
procure, and thus endeavored to arrive at correct results. 

N'early all these skeptical sects are the direct offspring of 
Puritanism, as we have before demonstrated. This is appar- 
ent from the fact that there were but few religious skeptics 
in the world previous to the Reformation. Since the Refor- 
mation, wherever the Puritan system has had sway, all forms 
of infidelity have made rapid progress. The inference, there- 
fore, is irresistible, that wherever the seeds of this system 
have been planted, a good proportion of the harvest has 
always been gathered by those who are opposed to Chris- 
tianity. 

Spiritualists. 

The following startling facts were presented to the pub- 
lic more than three years ago, in " The Plain Guide to Spir- 
itualism," by Uriah Clark : " There are now in America five 



PUEITANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 439 

hundred public mediums who receive visitors constantly or 
occasionally; and more than fifty thousand mediums who 
are reliable in select circles, but not before the public. About 
one hundred periodicals have been devoted wholly or in part 
to the propagation and exposition of Spiritualism, most of 
which were designed to have only a temporary mission. 
More than five hundred books and pamphlets have been cir- 
culated, and many of them are still having an extensive sale. 
There are five hundred speakers who are considered especial 
public advocates, while there are more than one thousand 
who are regarded as only occasional advocates. ISTearly two 
thousand places are open for public circles, conferences, or 
lectures, and in many places there are flourishing Sunday- 
schools. The decisive believers number about two millions, 
while the nominal ones are nearly five millions. On the 
Eastern Continent the number may be reckoned as one mil- 
lion. The whole number now on the globe, supposed to 
recognize the fact of spiritual intercourse, cannot fall short 
of twenty millions." 

In a letter to a friend, dated September 7, 1866, J. H. 
W. Tookey, one of the most respectable and truthful spirit- 
ualists of the country, writes, " that these statistics were 
given to the public three years ago, and should be enlarged 
by an additional tUrdP This gentleman also observes, 
"that hundreds of thousands meet and mingle with the com- 
municants of churches for the support of ' liberal Christian- 
ity,' whose opinions, beliefs, and philosophies are spiritual- 
istic. More, in most cases they are known Spiritualists- 
members of Spiritual circles, and, as such, opposed to the the- 
ology of the churches ; and yet, because of Sunday and fam- 
ily associations, it would be deemed scandalous on the part 
of any statistician to classify them among the Spiritualists." 
We have conversed with many educated and intelligent 
Spiritualists upon this subject, and their opinions coincide 
fully with those we have cited. They assure us that the 
statements and calculations of these gentlemen are helow 
rather than above the actual mark. We are likewise assured 



440 CHEISTIANITT ikND ITS COJTFLICTS. 

that the Spiritualistic churches for the propagation of "lib- 
eral Christianity," and the schools for the training, educating, 
and rearing of children in accordance with this "reformed 
religion " of the nineteenth century, have increased vastly 
during the past three years. Books, pamphlets, journals, 
catechisms, and articles of faith, have multiplied enormously 
within the past few years, and the church and school organi- 
zations are now in the highest degree efficient and progres- 
sive. In their schools especially, admirable classifications 
have been adopted, with a view of attracting, interesting, 
and converting the rising generation of all ages, sexes, and 
conditions. Eloquence, poetry, and music, are all brought 
into requisition to captivate the pliant minds of the young, 
and to indoctrinate them with the "reformed " and " liberaP' 
ideas of the new theology. Great numbers of men and wo- 
men of high positions, and of intellectual culture and refine- 
ment, openly profess the new doctrines, and exert their influ^ 
ence and talents in disseminating them. The novelty and 
excitement which formerly attracted general attention to 
the new system has passed away ; but under the influence 
of numerous and various organizations throughout the Uni- 
ted States, the sect is making very great progress. 

Taking the statements we have cited as the basis of our 
calculation, we are justified in presenting the following sum- 
mary : 

1863.— 500 public mediums; 50,000 reliable mediums in 
select circles ; 500 public speakers; 1,000 occasional advo- 
cates; 2,000,000 of decisive believers; 5,000,000 of nominal 
believers ; 2,000 places for public circles, conferences, and 
lectures ; numerous public schools. 

If we add to these numbers the increase of the one-third 
which is claimed during the last three years, the calculation 
stands thus : 



1863. 




1867. 




Public mediums . . . 


500. 


Public mediums . . . 


666. 


Private mediums . . 


50,000. 


Private mediums.. 


66,QQ&, 



PUEITANISM m THE UNITED STATES. 441 

1863. 1867. 

Public speakers 500. Public speakers 666. 

Occasional speakers 1,000. Occasional speakers 1,333. 

Decisive believers .2,000j000. Decisive believers .2,666,000. 

ISTominal believers .5,000,000. Kominal believers .6,333,000. 

Places of public Places of public 

worship 2,000. worship 2,666. 

Sunday-schools .... numerous. Sunday-schools. . . . numerous. 

According to this estimate, the number of believers in 
Spiritualism in the United States at the present time is more 
than six millions, and the number of active partisans nearly 
three millions! From the old, the middle-aged, and the 
young of all sexes and conditions, this sect is everywhere 
receiving large additions, and threatens ere long to occupy 
a leading position among the conflicting sects of this creed- 
cursed and sect-cursed country. We have already referred 
briefly to the tenets of modern Spiritualism — to its insidious 
sophistries, its maxinis of philosophy, morals, and society,, 
its indulgent principles, its humanitarianism and socialisn.j 
its appeals to the emotions and passions, its cultivation oi 
eloquence, poetry, music ; and, overtopping, overshadowing.^ 
and subordinating all these minor elements of the system, 
we have alluded to its vital and universal dogma which de- 
nies the divinity of Christ, the inspiration of the Scriptures, 
and the principal truths of the Christian religion. That the 
object of Spiritualism is to undermine and overthrow the 
New Law which Jesus gave to mankind, admits of no doubt. 
The doctrines inculcated by all their mediums, their pub- 
lications, and their chief partisans, demonstrate this momen- 
tous fact. 

Atheists, Deists, Nationalists, Infidels, Skeptics, etc. 

It is now generally conceded that there are a greater 

number of infidels in the United States than in any other 

comitry. Go where we may, in city or country, among the 

rich or the poor, the educated or the illiterate, we meet at 

19* 



442 CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

eveiy step men who deny the existence of a God, or the 
inspiration of the Scriptures, or a future spirit-world, or some 
vital portion of the Christian system. This religious skepti- 
cism is so wide-spread, and so generally diffused throughout 
the various ramifications of society, even among those who 
ostensibly belong to the sects, as to threaten seriously the 
ultimate domination of Christianity itself in the United States. 
We have already referred to some of the causes of this alarm- 
ing decline in the religious sentiment. These causes are more 
numerous and potent at the present time than at any other 
period since the commencement of our era. What are they ? 
The innumerable and ever-varying sects, all of them based 
upon the untenable dogmas of Calvinism or Lutheranism, the 
continual appearance of well-written, insidious, and skeptical 
books like those of Strauss, Kenan, Parker, Buckle, Lecky, etc., 
and the almost universal predominance in society of material 
prosperity, and its attendant luxuries, over the spiritual ele- 
ment. N"early all the thoughts, the efforts, and the aspira- 
tions of the men of the United States pertain to this world 
and its temporary enjoyments, while those spiritual things 
which prepare the soul for a future existence are practically 
ignored and neglected. 

Having no organized societies, no associations, and but 
few publications, it is impossible to form any correct idea of 
the number of skeptics in the United States. Under such 
circumstances, we can only form an approximate estimate, 
by collecting and comparing the opinions of many judicious 
statisticians, writers, and thinkers, who have given attention 
to the subject. If we go into all classes of society, and can- 
vass the opinions of those we meet, it will jDrobably be found 
that about eight per cent, of them will prove to be skeptics. 
According to this calculation, the number now in the United 
States may be reckoned at about 2,000,000. Some have 
placed the number as high as 3,000,000; others as low as 
1,000,000. Our own opinion is that the number may be 
fairly placed at 2,000,000. 



PUEITANISM m THE UNITED STATES. 443 

Unitarians, 

No just estimate can be formed of the number of Unita- 
rians in the United States from the number of their churches 
and societies, because they regard churches, creeds, and church 
goTernmentj as of little account. As a sect, they have no 
unity of faith, and no settled form of doctrine ; but they re- 
gard morality and good works as the principal elements of 
happiness, both in this world and in the world to come. In 
literary culture, refinement, morality, and in nearly all of 
those qualities which pertain to the model citizen, the Unita- 
rians, as a body, have no superiors. They are jealous of 
church organizations, articles of faith, and disciplinary regu- 
lations, on account of their supposed tendency to curtail pro- 
gressive development and religious liberty. They have a 
mortal aversion to what they regard as organized priestcraft, 
and for this reason but few of them ever unite with or fre- 
quent churches. Probably not one in ten enters a church 
from one year's end to the other. But it must not be inferred 
from this that they are immoral, or violators of the ordinary 
proprieties which belong to the Sabbath. In making up our 
statistics, therefore, we have been obliged to rely upon the 
opinions of judicious and reliable individuals, rather than 
upon the number of church edifices and actual communicants. 
In this manner we believe that we have made a fair approxi- 
mation to the correct figures. 

In 1850, according to the "Christian Register," there 
were 236 Unitarian societies in America. Another authority 
places the number at 243. Allowing 100 fnembers to each 
church and also for the increase up to the present time, we 
have at least 243,000 church-goers. It may be assumed that 
the number in no way connected with the churches is not 
less than 300.000. From these data, the number of Unita- 
rians in the United States is about 543,000. 

Universdlists. 

Like the Unitarians, the Universalists deny the divinity 
of Jesus Christ. They also deny the personality of the Holy 



444 



CHEISTIAKITT ANB ITS CONFLICTS. 



Spirit, and the existence of a future state of punishment- 
holding that all sins are punished in this world. Believing 
that the commission of every sin entails its specific punish- 
ment here below and that every virtue receives its due reward, 
they avoid sin, and are moral as a matter of calculation and 
worldly prudence. This sect holds churches and church gov- 
ernments in still less estimation than the Unitarians. As a 
consequence, it is probable that not one in twenty ever en- 
ters a church, or contributes to sustain one. 

According to the census of 1850, there were 494 Univer- 
salist churches in the United States. Conceding one hundred 
members to each one, we have 494,000 in 1850. If we add 
to this number the increase up to the present time, and the 
probable number of believers outside of the church organiza- 
tions, the aggregate number will exceed 1,000,000, 

tfews. 

Seventeen years ago the Jews of the United States num- 
bered more than 100,000. Since 1850 they have increased 
with great rapidity, in consequence of the perfect toleration 
which exists here, and their excellent position politically, 
socially, and commercially. Judicious men have estimated 
the number of Jews now residing in the United States at 
500,000. Their numbers cannot be estimated from the num- 
ber of their synagogues, because they are so widely dis- 
persed throughout the States, as traders and speculators, that 
they rarely combine under society organizations. The num- 
ber of Jews at present residing in the United States in all 
probability exceeds 500,000. A gentleman of this city, who 
has devoted special attention to the subject for many years, 
writes as follows: "There are about a million and a half of 
Jews in the United States at the present time. There are 
one hundred and ten thousand in N'ew York city— 85,000 
who call themselves Jews, and 25,000, who are Jews but 'call 
themselves Americans." This gentleman states that there 
are but few Jews in 'New England, as they have found it 
utterly impossible to compete with the Yankees. Many at- 



PUEITANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 445 

tempts have been made by this peculiar people to ply their 
commercial avocations among the descendants of the Puri- 
tans, but they have generally been obliged to abandon the 
field in poverty and disgust. For the most part they are to 
be found in the Middle, Western, and Southern States. In 
1860 there were seventy-six synagogues in the United States, 
accommodating 34,012 persons. We make a very low esti- 
mate in placing the number at 500,000. 

Bummary. 

Spiritualists 6,333,000 

Unitarians 643,000 

Universalists 1,000,000 

Jews 500,000 

Infidels and Skeptics 2,000,000 



10,376,000 



Here we have a grand total of more than ten millions of 
people in the United States who deny the divinity of Jesus 
Christ! Of an entire population of about thirty-three mil- 
lion inhabitants, nearly 07ie-third of them are professed 
skeptics ! One of the most alarming features of this decline 
of the religious sentiment consists in the fact that this skep- 
tical element includes vast numbers of the most talented, the 
most highly educated, and the most distinguished men in 
politics, law, literature, commerce, and general society. 
Their eloquent voices are continually heard in our legislative 
assemblies, pulpits, lecture-rooms, courts, and in some of our 
institutions of learning. Their productions are constantly 
seen in the most influential journals of the nation, and not a 
few of the latter receive their sole inspiration and direction 
froni them. In society their rank is inferior to that of no 
other class of the community. 

In possession of these numerous and powerful advantages, 
their numbers are increasing in all directions, and with great 
rapidity. Twenty years ago, Spiritualism did not exist in 



446 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. - 

America ; now there are six millions of them. Twenty years 
ago, if a man had risen up in a public convention of minis- 
ters and impiously proposed to designate the Saviour as Mr. 
Jesus Christ, or Jesus Christ, Esq., he would have been 
frowned upon with horror and indignation by the entire na- 
tion ; but in 1863, in Hope Chapel, in the great city of jN^ew 
York, this terrible blasphemy was committed in the presence 
of hundreds of clergymen and prominent citizens, with 
scarcely an exclamation of surprise or reproof; and the read- 
ing public perused the blasphemous observations in the daily 
papers with indifference, and, in many instances, with ap- 
proval. Could the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jerusalem, or 
the pagans of the CsBsars have offered a greater insult ? 

So degraded has the religious and moral sentiment of the 
public become, and so shameless are the masses of the people, 
that notorious inebriates and libertines crowd the national 
capital, and hold up their heads among the highest in Con- 
gress and in fashionable society. In our cities wealth alone 
3S the magic touchstone of respectability and social position. 
Religion, morality, and virtue are, for the most part, sneered 
at as antiquated superstitions, barriers to liberty of thought 
and to true progression. 

The practical development of the leading idea of Protes- 
tantism, viz., private judgment in all matters pertaining to 
religion, has undoubtedly been the principal cause of "this 
state of things. In other words, the self-denying precepts of 
Christianity have been arrayed in contest against the natural 
propensities and desires of men. Conscience has been pitted 
against pride, passion, and sensual enjoyments ; sobriety and 
self-denial against gayety and self-indulgence. Fallen man 
is the actor, and he is invited to decide between the thou- 
sand temptations of the world and the privations and disci- 
pline of the Christian. Instinctively he appreciates and 
covets the former, while the latter are difficult of compre- 
hension and repulsive to him. All his natural inclinations 
woo and beckon him toward the one, and repel him from the 
other. A perverted public sentiment, held in slavish subjec- 



PUEITAiaSM IN THE UNITED STATES. 



U1 



lion by a licentious press and depraved teachers encourage 
and urge on the general deterioration. 

From these facts it would appear that the people of this 
country are fast approaching that condition of materialism 
which existed in Europe at the downfall of the Roman re- 
public. We have pointed out many points of resemblance 
between the two peoples in a political and social point of 
view ; and all indications lead to the inference that we are 
approaching these men of the past in matters of reli- 
gion. 

How can this rushing torrent of unbelief be arrested ? 
How, but by Christian unity and brotherhood ? How, ex- 
cept under the divine banner of one IJniversal Church ? 
How, but by marshalling the entire Christian element in 
concord and concert of action against the powers of discord 
and irrelio-ion ? Were the Christians of the world to call a 
grand council, send to it their representative men, throw 
aside all human creeds and human religions, and place before 
the assembly the essential doctrines taught by Jesus Christ, 
every sincere Christian in the universe could unite on a com- 
mon platform, and every fundamental idea of the Catholic 
Church be sustained. Thus could a consolidated and invin- 
cible army of Christians be put in the field, to fight the bat- 
tles of Christianity against the swarming hosts of unbe- 
lievers which now pervade the Avorld. Thus would one of 
the chief causes of. skepticism be summarily stricken down, 
in the form of sectarian discord and strife. 

No individual can ever reestablish the unity and uni- 
versality of the Church. Certain primary and fundamental 
data must be conceded, like the diAine foundation of a single 
Church, with a settled code of principles and observances 
and an ecclesiastical organization. It must be conceded that 
Christ actually appointed the apostles as His special minis- 
ters to teach and to preach His doctrines, and to preside 
over the sacred observances (sacramenta) which He insti- 
tuted. It must be conceded that the Saviour really did leave 
behind Him certain definite precepts, which are to be ac- 



448 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

cepted by all mankind without discussion, without criticism, 
without doubt. 

The entire tenor of the Sacred Writings renders these 
facts so self-evident as to preclude the necessity of argument. 
It only remains, then, to inquire whether all the essential 
doctrines of Christianity cannot be so clearly defined and 
codified as to enable the whole Christian world to unite as 
members of one universal and harmonious Church. We be- 
lieve that an earnest and candid perusal of the teachings of 
Jesus and the insj^ired apostles, as we have presented them 
in the first part of this work, would furnish a theological 
platform upon which all Christendom could stand in concord 
and fraternity. The articles of Catholic faith are so simple, 
so vital, and so entirely in consonance with Holy Writ, as to 
render an effort at unity on the part of Christendom, emi- 
nently desirable and possibly successful. We have shown 
that there are many things pertaiuing to the Church which 
are not articles of Catholic faith, but matters of discipline • 
and that a man may be a good Catholic by adopting the 
former, even if he rejects the latter. The great theologian, 
Veron, has clearly demonstrated this fact in his able work 
on " Catholic Faitk" Were a world's convention to be con- 
vened, with a view of uniting Christendom under one Church 
and one theological creed, success might be possible by 
adopting as a basis of operation, the four fundamental divi- 
sions of Catholicity, viz., the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Com- 
mandments, the Seven Sacred Observances (sacramenta) , and 
the Lord's Prayer. 

Without some great and united effort of this kind, there 
is danger, in view of the rapid growth of materialism, that 
the world will again lapse into universal skepticism, as it had 
lapsed into polytheism and corrupt Judaism in the days of 
Christ ? Similar causes are now in operation as existed then. 
The same materialism dominates over the minds of the men 
of the present epoch, as governed the Latin, Greek, and Jew- 
ish subjects of Tiberius. The same pride of intellect, of lit- 
erary culture, and of philosophical knowledge exists now as 



PUEITANISIM EST THE UKITED STATES. 449 

existed then. But no efforts, however energetic, can be suc- 
cessful in stemming the tide of infidelity which is now flow- 
ing Avith such resistless impulse over the land, except under 
the unity of the Christian Church, and concert of action 
among Christians. So long as the infidel can point to an in- 
finite diversity of opinions and forms of worship among 
Christians, he is armed with a two-edged sword against the 
Christian system. So long as he can summon as witnesses so 
many opposing sects, each with a peculiar theological theor}?- 
and a peculiar mode of worship, he holds a defensible position. 

M. Guizot thus alludes to this subject : " When men 
deny the supernatural world, the inspiration of the Scrip- 
tures, and the divinity of Jesus Christ, they really assail 
the whole body of Christians — ^Romanists, Protestants, and 
Greeks ; they are virtually destroying the foundations of 
faith in all the belief of Christians, whatever their particular 
difference of religious opinions or forms of ecclesiastical gov- 
ernment. . . . When, then, the foundations of their common 
faith are attacked, the differences existing between Christian 
churches upon special questions, or the diversities of their or- 
ganization or government, become secondary interests ; it is 
from a common peril that they have to defend themselves ; 
or they must reconcile themselves to see dried up the com- 
mon source from which they all derive sustenance and life." * 

Many of the most talented and earnest Christians of the 
world regard with profound alarm the very general tendency 
toward irreligion. They behold many of the best intellects 
of the age in the ranks of rationalism, struggling to over- 
throw Christianity ; and their efforts to resist them, and to 
stem the increasing tide of unbelief, have thus far been un- 
successful. Mere sectarian organizations, divided counsels, 
or personal efforts have proved, and will continue to prove, 
unavailing in this gigantic contest. It is only by unity, har- 
mony, and untiring energy on the part of the followers of 
Jesus that these anti-Christian elements can be triumphantly 
overcome. 

* " Meditations on Christianity," p. x. 



CHAPTEE XXXIII. 

CENTEES OF PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 

At all eras, and among all nations, there have existed a 
few grand centres of jouhlic sentiment. From these cen- 
tral "nurseries" all the principal doctrines pertaining to 
religion, morals, politics, and social order, have originated. 
Whenever these original sources have been pure and truth- 
ful, the resulting fruits have been beneficent and salutary ; 
but when the parent fountains have been corrupt, the influ- 
ences- emanating from them have been productive of grave 
evils throughout the entire fabric of society. Instinctively 
the masses look up to those who are superior in intellect, 
learning, and talent for knowledge and guidance ; and as 
the gifted ones have, for the most part, been connected with 
public institutions, the public sentiment of the Christian 
world has actually been formed, nurtured, and developed 
into practical operation by these great national centres and 
nurseries of opinion. The academic groves and lyceums of 
ancient Greece and Rome, presided over by the eloquent and 
brilliant followers of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, were the 
grand centres of thought, as well as of the practical theories 
of these early nations. As all these philosophies were false 
and untenable, the societies founded upon them were, of ne- 
cessity, vicious and derogatory to the general welfare. The 
polytheism, the gross immorality, and the heartless cruelty 
which existed among these nations, are attributable to the 
influences of these intellectual centres. 



CENTEES OF PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 451 

When the divine institution of Jesus Christ — the Cath- 
olic Church—became fairly established, nearly all the holy, 
talented, and learned men of the world became connected 
with it, and for a period of more than eighteen hundred 
years it has held the highest position in Christendom, as 
a centre and nursery of every thing pure, and good, and 
true, pertaining to the religious, moral, and social condition 
of mankind. Founded by the Saviour Himself, it would be 
sacrilege to suppose that the fruits of this sacred institution 
have not been good. If, now and again, the inner temples 
have been profaned, and thorns have been planted instead of 
wheat, those influences have generally been of brief duration. 
The bad seed has sometimes sprung up and threatened to 
choke the wheat, but ere long the thorns have been plucked 
up by the roots and scattered to the winds. 

During the lifetime of Luther, he was the chief origina- 
tor and centre of Protestant sentiment in Germany. There 
were other lesser centres of novel opinions and hypotheses, 
like Zwinglius, Melancthon, Bucer, Munzer, Karlstadt, etc. ; 
but the original innovator, through his boisterous eloquence, 
and his reckless assertions, monopolized by far the greater 
share of public attention. After the deatb of Luther, the 
University of Wittenberg became one of the great centres of 
public opinion in Germany. The men who presided over 
this institution were ambitious, bold, energetic, and talented. 
Their doctrines appealed to the more ignoble emotions and 
sentiments of the heart, liberated mankind from all whole- 
some restraints and discipline, and plunged society into re- 
ligious, moral, and political chaos. The source was impure 
and false, and the streams flowing from it were blighting, 
disintegrating, destructive. 

According to M. Guizot, one of the most important cen- 
tres of public opinion in France has been, and still is, the 
University of Paris. From its origin, in tbe thirteenth cen- 
tury, it has played " a most conspicuous part in the history 
of mind in France. . . . The University of Paris is associated 
with the policy of kings, and with all the struggles of the 



452 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

French clergy against the court of Rome, and those of the 
clergy against the temporal power; ideas developed them- 
selves, and doctrines were established in its bosom; and it 
strove always immediately to propagate them in the external 
world." * 

The originator and manufacturer of Protestant sentiment 
in Switzerland during the sixteenth century was John Cal- 
vin. ^ The masterly eloquence and the undoubted literary 
abilities of this talented man swayed the public mind of 
several of the Swiss cantons with absolute and dictatorial 
power. Men listened to the eloquent and oracular declara- 
tions of this fanatical innovator with rapt admiration and 
awe. The very novelty and recklessness of his positions fas- 
cinated them. In his fatalistic doctrines they beheld a royal 
road to heaven, an immunity from personal responsibility, 
and from the restraints and discipline which had heretofore 
been imposed upon them by the ancient Church. Rulers 
and nobles accepted the new doctrines in order that they 
might enrich themselves from the possessions of the Church 
under the pretext of reform; and the common people joined 
in the frenzied excitement in order that they might give 
free rein to their natural propensities, unchallenged and un- 
checked by any authoritative ecclesiastical organization. 

The Huguenots of France and the Puritans of England 
derived their inspiration from this personal centre of public 
opinion. Allusion has already been made to the terrible 
fruits of this potent influence. 

In the same century Denmark, Sweden, and Norway 
were subjected to Protestant influence, under the leadership 
of Gustavus Yasa and a handful of zealous auxiliaries. 
These men derived their inspiration from Luther and the 
University of Wittenberg ; and their doctrines were enforced 
upon the simple and defenceless people of these countries by 
the sword. 

In England, Henry VIII. installed himself as the supreme 
head and centre of public opinion. Aided by a few unscru- 

* " History of Civilization," vol. ii., p. 19. 



CENTEES OF PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 453 

pulous men, like Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell, this wicked 
monarch actually moulded and directed the religious senti- 
ment of England during the last years of his reign. The 
most exalted prelates and nobles, the most gifted and learned 
men in the kingdom, as well as the masses of the people, 
were all forced to accept the opinions which had been manu- 
factured for them, to call them religion, and to practise, live, 
and die in accordance therewith. The daughters of this im- 
pious king, Mary and Elizabeth, followed in his footsteps, 
each from her own stand-point, and with results by no means 
flattering to the independence or manhood of the Anglo- 
Saxon. 

Under the Tudors the Puritan element endeavored to ob- 
tain a foothold in England, but without success. The peo- 
ple could be driven by the sharp swords of Henry and Eliza- 
beth into the Anglican establishment, but they detested 
cant, and scorned to be brought under the Puritan yoke. 

Later, when Cromwell seized the helm of government, 
and surrounded himself with an army of fanatical Round- 
heads, he endeavored to sway and direct the religious, polit- 
ical, and social sentiment of England. For a brief period, 
through the direct aid of his fierce soldiers and partisans, he 
became the great centre and fountain of public opinion ; but 
the natural instincts of the true Briton speedily revealed 
themselves in the form of disgust, dissatisfaction, and revolt 
against the bold and canting tyrant, and his Puritanical 
schemes of cruelty, oppression, and civil strife. After the 
death of this sanguinary Puritan, Charles II. was placed 
upon the throne amidst the acclamations of the entire peo- 
ple. A very few years sufficed to convince the people of 
England of the terrible dangers and calamities of the Puri- 
tan system. Their experiment with Puritanism was final in 
that direction. 

Within the past century the grand centres and nurseries 
of the religious and moral sentiment of England have been 
the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. After Elizabeth 
had fully and firmly established the Anglican Church on the 



454 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

basis of the Thirty-nine Articles, as altered and amended by 
herself and her ecclesiastical auxiliaries, the governing influ- 
ence of the Church glided gradually and almost impercepti- 
bly into the two great universities of the kingdom. From 
these centres of learning have sprung the eminent theolo- 
gians and controversialists who have given shape and direc- 
tion to the great public sentiment of the British empire. 
The influences of these accomplished scholars have penetra- 
ted into every region protected by the British flag, and have 
dominated over the minds and opinions of the inhabitants. 

In Scotland the Puritan system has always made more 
progress than in England, from the fact that she was not so 
directly under the supervision and control of the central 
power of government. The Knoxes and the earlier Rob Roys 
could fire the public heart of their inflammable countrymen 
with impunity, and urge on their partisans from their several 
stand-points to disaffection, discord, and fraternal slaughter. 
For many years these turbulent men were originators and 
centres of certain kinds of public sentiment, each declaring 
himself a humanitarian, each struggling to emancipate his 
countrymen from the thraldom of existing laws and disci- 
pline, and each appealing to the sword to enforce his peculiar 
doctrines. If Knox and his partisans made the longest and 
the loudest prayers, Rob and his " merry men " gave the 
most liberally to the poor, and proved to be the best practi- 
cal philanthropists. 

In Ireland the chief centre of public opinion has ever been 
the Universal Church and her priesthood. In the midst of 
all her dire oppressions, in the midst of long-continued gov- 
ernmental prohibitions against intellectual culture, teaching, 
preaching, and practising the ancient faith and worship, and 
the most grinding civil disabilities, the faithful inhabitants 
of the Green Isle have always remained true to their reli- 
gious principles. Despised, down-trodden, and degraded 
vassals of a haughty power, they have, in thousands of in- 
stances, returned good for evil, by gloriously fighting the 
battles of their oppressors in all parts of the world. Wherever 



CENTRES OF PUBLIC SENTEMENT. 



455 



British arms have triumplied, tlie Catholic sons of Ireland 
have always borne a prominent part. In the hottest battles 
the shamrock has always been seen in the van. 

Since the sixteenth century every possible effort has been 
made by the Anglican establishment to keep and to hold the 
Catholic priesthood of Ireland in ignorance and degradation. 
Elsewhere we have alluded to the means employed to accom- 
plish these ends. But, notwithstanding these great national 
persecutions, and the barriers which have been opposed to 
education and freedom of worship, six millions of Irish Catho- 
lics still remain true to the faith and the worship of their 
fathers. They are poor, ignorant, and often destitute of the 
necessaries of life ; but each one believes that he possesses a 
priceless treasure in his rehgion, and that it will secure him an 
eternity of bliss after his brief day of probation and trouble. 

During the first century and a half after the settlement 
of the Pilgrims in America almost the only sources of public 
sentiment were the pastors and congregations o£ the Calvin- 
istic churches. All the opinions and principles of these 
early colonizers were prescribed by, and rendered subservient 
to, these sectarian organizations. A refusal to coincide with 
the articles of faith, the policy, and the discipline thus im- 
posed, invariably consigned the non-conformist to political 
and social degradation and ruin, and not unfrequently to 
banishment and death. Whenever the Puritan gospellers 
emigrated to other sections they carried with them the same 
doctrines and the same policy. In this manner these indi- 
viduals in turn became new centres and propagators of the 
Puritan sentiment. From the most authentic Protestant 
authorities we have already detailed a few of the baneful 
fruits of this early civilization. Among them we find the 
introduction into the Massachusetts colony of negro and 
Indian slavery, savage persecutions of all opposing sects, the 
murder of Quakers and reputed witches by hanging and 
burning, the introduction of drunkenness and the instigation 
of bloody wars among the Indians, and the final extermina- 
tion of all the Eastern tribes. 



456 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

The Puritans have always professed to derive their in- 
spiration from, and to be governed by, the Holy Scriptures. 
In the mother country they were persecuted for opinion's 
sake, and they bitterly denounced these persecutions as a 
violation of freedom of conscience and of religious liberty. 
They claimed that the l^ew Testament was given to all man- 
kind as the sole rule of faith, and that each individual pos- 
sessed an inherent right to interpret and to practise this 
ISTew Law in his own way, unrestrained by any outside in- 
fluence whatever. Such were their ostensible pretexts when 
they left England, while they were in Holland, and on their 
arrival in America. With this Divine Standard as their rule 
of faith and of action, and with such professedly enlarged 
ideas respecting liberty of thought and religious toleration, 
it might justly have been expected that a new paradise was 
about to be established in the newly discovered continent. 
Here was a vast Christian home, to which the oppressed of 
all nations might come, and worship God according to the 
dictates of their hearts ; where the missionary could find am- 
ple fields of labor in the midst of millions of simple-minded 
savages, and where a new and mighty nation of red and 
white men could be nurtured and developed in accordance 
with the principles inculcated by Christ in the gospel; where 
intolerance, wranglings, contentions, persecutions, and wars 
should be unknown, and where charity, forbearance, frater- 
nity, and peace should universally obtain. 

If we hold the Puritans and their descendants up before 
the Divine Standard, they will prove to have been failures. 
In no single particular have they been followers or imitators- 
of Jesus and His apostles. Trace the Puritan element in 
America throughout all its various ramifications — into the 
pulpit, the seminaries of learning, the halls of legislation, the 
printing-ofiices, and into general society, and contrast the 
teachings and the influences thus -4eveloped with those of 
the gospel, and we find two opposite systems of civilization. 

From the great organized centres of opinion to which we 
have alluded have sprung numerous individual sub-centres, 



CENTEES OF PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 457 

who propagate within their several spheres the opinions and 
the influences derived from their alma maters. We cite a 
few individual types in illustration of the general principle. 
We select one among the many men of intellect and elo- 
quence which Harvard has sent forth. With high literary 
attainments, superior talents, commanding eloquence, re- 
markable elegance as a writer, and with unexceptionable 
morals, this gentleman has led the way in shaping and de- 
veloping the public sentiment of the Northern and West- 
ern States during the past six years. Through his public 
orations, and his numerous contributions to radical jour- 
nals, he has been able to address himself continually with- 
in the period specified to more than a million of citizens. 
These partisans have listened with admiration and blind 
faith to the brilliant harangues of this gifted orator, and 
have perused his terse and polished sentences as oracular 
truths. Kegarding the topics discussed from only a single 
stand-point, imbibing only ex parte views, and ignoring every 
thought and every fact outside of the radical circle, this vast 
number of subordinate minds have been thoroughly indoc- 
trinated with the peculiar political opinions of their enthu- 
siastic leader. Always ultra, but consistent in his fanaticism ; 
often plausible, and apparently actuated by simple motives 
of humanity, this gentleman has swayed the minor intellects 
within the sphere of his influence with undisputed and dicta- 
torial power. Whenever he has advanced a novel sentiment, 
however much in violation of law, justice, morality, or mercy, 
his admirers have accepted it at once as truth, and added it 
to their practical code of life. If the sentiment has been an- 
tagonistic to the fundamental principles of the Constitution, 
or to law and morals, the latter have been abandoned as 
false, efiete, and non-obligatory. For the most part, this 
eminent orator and writer has confined his efibrts to political 
affairs ; and his labors have been fruitful in engendering sec- 
tional bitterness, in inciting civil war, and in bringing about 
a dissolution of the Union. Like most of the graduates of 
Harvard, this gentleman denies the divinity of our Saviour, 
20 



458 CEEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

and subordinates the Holy Scriptures to human hypotheses. 
Standing on the same religious platform with Theodore 
Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and other distinguished 
literary men, who regard Christ simply in the light of a man 
and a prophet, he has adopted an intellectual standard of 
religion, and of social and political order, at once narrow, 
sectional, disintegrating, and false. Had he brought the 
same amount of talent and energy to bear upon religion 
which he has brought into the political arena, he would have 
been equally successful in leading the credulous multitude 
into his peculiar theological views. In a religious point of 
view, nearly all the world will admit that this source and 
fountain of opinion is false and corrupt: can the streams 
emanating from them be salutary ? In this type of a modern 
radical we have a man of genius and learning, but one who 
repudiates a fundamental principle of Christianity — the doc- 
trine of the Holy Trinity; one whose polished sentences 
might remind us of a Pliny or a Tacitus, but with a philos- 
ophy and a theology as false and untenable as were those of 
the accomplished pagans we have cited. Each of them re- 
garded the Saviour as a man and a visionary enthusiast, and 
consequently ignored His teachings, and adopted the ration- 
alistic hypotheses of philosophers and professed humani- 
tarians. Can just and beneficent principles proceed from 
such centres of opinion ? 

Among the chief personal centres of American public sen- 
timent are the editors of the more ultra-radical journals. 
These gentlemen are for the most part talented, liberally 
educated, accomplished, and expert as writers, andmany of 
them as speakers. The religious and political opinions of 
nearly all of them have been implanted at Harvard, Yale, 
Amherst, Williams, and other New England colleges, and 
time has only had the effect of intensifying and of practically 
developing them. It is estimated that each of these journals, 
upon an average addresses daily more than one hundred 
thousand credulous partisans, who imbibe its oracular asser- 
tions with unquestioning and undoubting faith. What an 



CENTEES OF PUBLIC SEiniMENT. 459 

enormous power for a few individuals to wield ! What a 
terrible responsibility rests upon their shoulders touching the 
proper use or abuse of this vast intellectual engine ! Are 
these gentlemen safe originators and leaders of public sen- 
timent ? Do they possess the qualities of mind, and the tem- 
peraments, education, virtue, philanthropy, and truthfulness 
requisite to mould and to direct the opinions of the masses 
in such a manner as to subserve the general welfare ? Are 
these partisan politicians really competent to act as the polit- 
ical censors and directors of so many millions of American 
citizens ? 

Several of the gentlemen v>^hom we have presented as 
personal types of a class, are acquaintances and friends of 
the writer. Socially, and in all the ordinary relations of 
life, they are models of excellence. They would serve a 
friend, or succcor the poor, the sick, and the needy with the 
utmost alacrity and pleasure; but as publicists they are 
narrow, sectional, partisan, selfish, ultra, and revolutionary. 
Naturally impulsive, sympathetic, generous, and kind, they 
expend all their better emotions and affections upon those 
in immediate rapport with them, v/hile all the brethren 
outside of the charmed circle are doomed to receive upon 
their devoted heads whatever remains in them of the old 
Adam. Had these gentlemen first drawn breath in the South 
instead of the North, the conquered section would now have 
contained several additional rebels — unrepentant, unpardon- 
ed, uncompromising, and revolutionary. In all ages and in 
all countries men have ever been the creatures of circum- 
stances surrounding them. Present associations, sympathies, 
affections, and early education, have always moulded and 
shaped the sentiments and lives of men ; and for this reason 
nearly all the statesmen of the world have adhered with 
tenacity to their own native sections and states whether 
right or wrong. Man is so constituted that early education, 
early associations, early impressions, early habits, and the in- 
stinctive love of home, always exercise a controlling influ- 
ence through life. To sustain these fatherland impressions, 



460 CHEISTlAinTY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

men of all nationalities have regai-ded it a conscientious duty 
to risk fortune, honor, and life. In periods of turmoil and 
contentions, these instinctive passions are at fever heat, and 
the baser emotions of the heart dominate over reason, justice, 
and mercy. In view of these solemn facts it becomes the 
Christian, the philosopher, and the philanthropist to pause in 
the midst of the raging tempest, to pass beyond the limited 
confines of his home circle, and to regard the desolation and 
the sufferings of his brethren outside who are weeping and 
wailing in sorrow. What if some of these sufferers have 
erred — what if they have loved their homes too much — what 
if they have fought for an untenable principle — let there be 
an end to the punishraentj and a limit to the torture and 
the humiliation. Let not millions of old men, women, and 
children be perpetually goaded, insulted, degraded, and 
starved to gratify the unhallowed vengeance of a proud and 
all-powerful conqueror. Let not charity, magnanimity, and 
mercy be blotted out from the American vocabulary to sati- 
ate the excited and diabolical instincts of two or three mil- 
lions of fanatical partisans. 

Since the accession to power of the ruling party a portion 
of the radical press has been utterly corrupt and unscrupu- 
lous. The most exalted talents and purity of character have 
afforded no protection against the empoisoned shafts of cal- 
umny and falsehood. The public mind has been perverted 
and debased by an organized system of journalistic mendacity 
and deception. The victims of this corrupt press have not 
only been the hated people of the South, but all others who 
have presumed to dissent from the extreme views of the dom- 
inant faction. So potent has been this influence, that a major- 
ity of the people of the North have been induced to repudiate 
and abandon the republic of their fathers, and to sustain a 
consolidated and centralized sectional oligarchy ! Many mil- 
lions of minor intellects which derive all their inspiration 
from the press, now regard Washington and the fathers of 
the Revolution as little better than traitors, and the Consti- 
tution which they framed with so much wisdom, as of no 



CENTRES OF PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 



461 



more value than so much blank paper. While the Father of 
his Country yet lived, the radicals of that day, Tom Paine 
and his associates, attempted, through the Philadelphia " In- 
vestigator " and kindred papers, to destroy him by calumny 
and vituperation, and to debase the public sentiment down 
to their own revolutionary and sectional level ; but, notwith- 
standing the conspiracy was partially successful, they were 
finally doomed to disappointment, and Washington and the 
republic survived their fierce onslaughts. Under more favor- 
able circumstances, with larger means, and more systematic 
organizations, modern radicalism has triumphed over virtue, 
law, justice, and the republican form of government. Un- 
der the present condition of radical journalism, no politic- 
al opponent, however pure and noble, is safe from their 
deadly attacks ; truth, honor, and the ordinary decencies of 
life are all sacrificed, in order to drag their victims to the 
dust. 

Liberty of the press is a good thing so long as truth, mo- 
rality, virtue, and the general welfare are maintained ; but 
when it degenerates into an organized system of falsehood 
and deception for the sake of securing the selfish ends of a 
party or of individuals, it becomes a blighting curse. There 
is no absurdity, no wickedness, no violation of religion, law, 
or morals, which the radical press of the North could not 
now instil into the minds of their millions of credulous read- 
ers as solemn truths. So degraded and debauched has pub- 
lic sentiment become, that nothing but reckless and unfound- 
ed assertions, calumnies, and disgusting details of murders, 
seductions, murderers' confessions, hangings, dog-fights, cock- 
fights, pugilistic encounters, and the like, are palatable. 
From a yearly file of any one of these journals may be col- 
lected a respectably sized volume of these immoral and cor- 
rupting details. This is indeed liberty of the press, but it is 
fearfully demoralizing and derogatory to the common wel- 
fare. It is the same kind of liberty which the pirate takes 
when he preys upon the commerce of the world. One robs 
his victims of gold and merchandise, and calls it the " free- 



462 



CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 



dom of the seas;" the other robs them of truth, virtue, ai^d 
honor, and terms it the " freedom of the press." 

'No government has ever existed long where this univer- 
sal and unrestrained liberty of the press has obtained ; for 
licentiousness of thought, a general deterioration of public 
and private morals, and destructive revolutions and civil 
wars have invariably been their legitimate sequences. These 
calamities in turn have generated popular discontent, and 
distrust against both governments and rulers, and forced the 
people to rush to monarchy in self-defence, for security of 
person^ and property. " Monarchy," says M. Guizot, " is 
somethmg quite different from the will of an individual, 
though.it presents itself under that form. It is the personifi- 
cation of legitimate sovereignty— of the collective will and 
aggregate wisdom of a people— of that will which is essen- 
tially reasonable, enlightened, just, impartial ; which knows 
not of individual wills, though by the title of legitimate mon- 
archy, earned by these conditions, it has the right to govern 
them. Such is the meaning of monarchy as understood by 
the people, and such is^the motive of their adhesion to it. . . . 
There are, too, certain conjunctures which are particularly 
favorable to this personification ; such, for example, as when 
individual forces [like the great centres of public sentiment 
to^ vrhich v/e have alluded], display themselves in the world 
with all their uncertainties, all their waywardness ; when 
selfishness predominates in individuals, either through igno- 
rance and brutality, or through corruption. At such times 
society, distracted by the conflict of individual wills, and un- 
able to attain, by their free concurrence, to a general will 
which might hold them in subjection, feels an ardent desire 
for a sovereign power to which ail individuals must submit ; 
and, as soon as any institution presents itself which bears 
any of the characteristics of legitimate sovereignty, society 
.rallies around it with eagerness, as people under proscription 
take refuge in the sanctuary of a church. This is what has 
taken place in the wild and disorderly youth of nations, such 
as those we have passed through. Monarchy is undoubtedly 



CENTRES OF PUBLIO SENTIENT. 463 

suited to tliose times of strong and fruitful anarchy, if I may 
so speak, in which society is striving to form and regulate 
it«elf but is unable to do so by the free concurrence of indi- 
vidual wills. . . . Security and progress are essential to social 
existence. Every system which does not provide for present 
order and progressive advancement for the future, is vicious, 
and speedily abandoned. And this was the fate of the old 
political forms of society, of the ancient liberties (repubhcs) 
of Europe in the fifteenth century. They could not give to 
society either security or progress. These objects naturally 
became sought for elsewhere; to obtain them recourse was 
had to other principles and other means." * 

There is a striking coincidence between the present con- 
dition of the United States and those "old political forms of 
society "to which M. Guizot refers. Our whole fabric of 
society is seriously imperilled by "the conflict of a few mdi- 
vidual wills." Through " ignorance and brutality, or through 
corruption " " selfishness predominates in these few individ- 
ual'^ " "We are now in the midst of one of those " conjunc- 
tures when individual forces display themselves in the world 
with all their uncertainties, all their waywardness. ihe 
partisan and sectional agitators of the press, the pulpit, and 
the half-deserted halls of Congress, are in no way competent 
«to provide for present order, security, and progressive ad- 
vancement for the future." Can " society form and regulate 
itself" under the direction of a few "vicious individual 
wills • " or must the people seek for some " new and legiti- 
mate' sovereignty which is essentially reasonable, enlight- 
ened, just, impartial, and which knows not of individual 
' wills'" ? Let the dispassionate statesman examine the actual 
state of public affairs, and then form his conclusion. 

Other personal centres of the New England Puritan sys- 
tem may be found in the numerous parsons throughout the 
United States who have graduated from the various colleges 
and theological seminaries of New England. 

These men style themselves ministers and preachers of 
* " History of CiYilizatioB," vol. i., pp. 200-237. 



464 CHEISMAOTTT ^KD ITS CONFLICTS. 

the gospel. They profess to be actuated by the same senti- 
ments and to teach the same doctrines as were taught by 
Christ and the apostles. But the lives of nearly all of them 
present a practical refutation of these high claims The rad- 
ical parsons who now occupy a majority of the pulpits of the 
-Northern and Western States, resemble in no respect the early 
disciples and ministers of the Saviour. The latter always 
preached and practised in accordance with the divine stand- 
ard of their Master, while the foi-mer have set up their own 
standards, which are as unlike that of the Son of God as evU 
IS uahke good. Is there an honest man who dare assert de- 
liberately that the doctrines of the Prince of Peace have been 
inculcated from Northern radical pulpits during the past six 
years ;■ Is there a single earnest believer of the Kew Testa- 
ment who can justify or defend the violent and vindictive 
proceedings of these so-called ministers, as they have contin- 
ually urged on their flocks to hatred, vengeance, and slauo-h- 
ter, trom their thousand pulpits ? " 

These political preachers address themselves on every 
Sunday m the year to millions of credulous minds. Probably ' 
ninety-five per cent, of these listeners have no opinions of their 
own, but accept blindly the political and moral as well as 
the religious instructions of their pastors. Who can contem- 
plate the general character of the sermons which issue con- 
tinually from the lips ofihese men-their violent partisanship 
sectional hatred, vindictiveness, and the wanton desecrations 
ot their sacred offices by preaching politics, and fomentino- 
discords and wars among brethren, without serious appre°- 
hensions for the ultimate fate of Christianity in Puritan 
America? Analyze carefully and critically the utterances 
and the writings of these clerical centres of public opinion 
and contrast them with the teachings of the gospel which 
they profess to follow, and the inference will be conclusive 
that they are false teachers, hypocrites, and mammon-wor- 
shippers. Regard the animus, and the hateful resolutions of 
their ecclesiastical synods and other organized assemblies 
during the past few years, and judge whether Christian sen- 



CENTRES OF PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 465 

timents or Satanic influences have actuated them. " By their 
fruits shall ye know them." Have the good fruits of char- 
ity, humility, and brotherly love been produced by these 
radical pulpit orators, or have they sown seeds of sectional 
discord and civil strife ? Have they forgiven the trespasses 
of others as they would desire God to forgive their own tres- 
passes? When they have been smitten on one cheek, have 
they presented the other also ? or when their coats have been 
taken from them, have they proffered their cloaks also? 
Have they been centres and sources of truth, virtue, love, 
and Christian concord, or of calumny, vice, hatred, and fra- 
ternal contentions ? Have they grieved in sadness and in 
tears while fraternal slaughter and devastation were cursing 
the land, or have they hung up red battle-flags, with expres- 
sions of triumph and defiance, where the holy cross alone 
should be seen ? 

We have shown that the spirit which has always ani- 
mated the advocates of the Puritan system, both in Europe 
and in the United States, has been revolutionary and san- 
guinary. The terrible religious wars in Europe during the 
sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, are all dis- 
tinctly traceable to this spirit. In the United States, the early 
conflicts against the Indian tribes, and against the Quakers, 
Baptists, and other opposing sects, were due to the same in- 
fluence. If its evil results have been less manifest during 
the past century, the cause has consisted in a lack of physical 
power, not of disposition. But its inherent tendencies have 
ever been visible in insolent, mischievous, and unprovoked 
agitations against other sections and other <3ommunities. 
There has been no period since the days of Luther and Cal- 
vin, when their followers, led on by their parsons, would not 
have destroyed their hated opponents with the sword, pro- 
vided they had possessed the power to do so. 

For the past six years the Puritan element has been in 

the ascendant both North and South, and we have witnessed 

its terrible fruits. At the JSTorth it is still in the ascendant, 

and those who will note the workings of the great clerical 

20* 



4:66 CHEISTIANITT AND rrS CONFLICTS. 

and other centres and nurseries of public opininon, may be- 
hold the same revolutionary tendencies and the same: san- 
guinary spirit as existed in the sixteenth century. Witness 
the Congressional and State enactments against freedom of 
woviih\p—a(/ai}2st the simple preaching of the gospel— in Mis- 
souri and other States, unless the ministers preach and 
act in the interests of Puritan radicalism ! In numerous in- 
stances clergymen have been dragged from their sacred call- 
ings, and held in durance, and for trial, by radical spies and 
constables, because they have refused to lend fheir influence 
to the ruling faction ! In a majority of the synods, conven- 
tions, and churches of the Puritan sects, we find the same 
spirit of intolerance and persecution, especially against the 
Catholic Church. Their representative men do not hesitate 
to avow their opinions in synod, convention, and church, 
that the Catholic Church and Catholic influence must he put 
down in Uood. As a fair example of this Puritan feeling we 
quote an extract from a sermon delivered in Christ's Church 
of Brooklyn, N". Y., on Sunday the 14th of April, 1867, by 
the distinguished Rev. S. H. Tyng, D. D., of E'ew York: 

After alluding to what the reverend gentleman is pleased 
to designate as "false Christs which afflict the Church at 
the present time," in the form of " Unitarianism," " imperti- 
nent Traditionalism,". "hollow Ceremonialism" or " empty 
Ritualism," and "assuming Ecclesiasticism " or the "Church 
of Rome," the following summary mode was boldly suggest- 
ed for their removal: " These four were the impostures'which 
loere arising in the Church to turn men from the only true 
Christ ; and if the Church was marauded hy their influence, 
and societies maintained, he was called upon, with others, to 
resist them, even unto blood. He had lived to see one rebellion 
on earth suMued, and he would praise God if he would wit- 
ness the suhjection of another P 

^ In uttering these revolutionary and sanguinary sentiments 
this eminent radical divine merely exposes to public view the 
inner heart and the actual convictions of modern Puritanical 
radicalism. At present this fanatical hostility is chiefly con- 



CENTRES OF PUBLIO SENTIMENT. 467 

fined to Catholicism : and when the hated South shall have 
been thoroughly desolated and destroyed, and radical and 
negro Puritanism shall reign supremely there, the grand and 
bloody crusade against the Catholic Church will be inaugu- 
rated. A great majority of the sects entertain the most bitter 
and deadly hatred against the entire Catholic system and its 
hierarchy. These hostile sentiments are daily and hourly 
manifested both publicly and privately ; and the idea is very 
general as well as very popular among the more zealous par- 
tisans, that there should, ere long, be a bloody Puritanical 
campaign against the rapid extension of Catholicism in the 
United States. 

Conservative men may regard lightly these ominous 
threatenings of the great clerical centres and manufactur- 
ers of public sentiment, as they regarded the threatenings 
which preceded our late civil war ; but the turbulent events 
of the past three hundred years admonish us of the invariable 
results which have followed these fanatical agitations, 
harangues, and threatenings. 

Enter the halls of Congress and regard the manufacturers 
of public opinion there assembled. These men are neither 
patriots nor statesmen, because they do not possess the requi- 
site qualifications to preside over the affairs of a great nation 
with justice and impartiality, and because they have not 
sufficient intellect and love of country to render their own 
personal prejudices and interests subordinate to the common 
welfare of the entire nation. They are not national legisla- 
tors, but the agents and representatives of a party and a sec- 
tion. 

In the best days of the republic, when great statesmen 
and real patriots presided over her destinies, when the glory 
and welfare of the nation were paramount to the interests of 
party, a deliberate violation of the established Constitution 
would have been regarded as a crime of the highest magni- 
tude. Often, in the midst of fierce and angry partisan con- 
tentions, when passion threatened to trample reason and 
justice in the dust, have these national giants arisen in their 



^QS CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Strength and majesty, and with eloquent words of wisdom, 
moderation, conciliation, reproof, and earnest patriotism^ 
soothed the turbulent elements, vindicated the laws, and res- 
cued their country from civil strife and bloodshed. The spirits 
of these good men of the past—of Washington, Clay, Web- 
ster, and Jackson— now look down upon their distracted and 
disunited country with unutterable sorroAV and mortification ; 
and could they speak from their spirit-homes, to the desper- 
ate factionists who have practically overthrown the Union, 
they would crush them under the weight of their bitter re- 
proaches. When men Hke Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, 
Madison, Hamilton, Clay, and Webster, were the sources 
and centres of public sentiment, and gave direction to the 
policy of government, the Union was safe, and all sections 
were secure in their just rights. The people looked up to 
these leaders for inspiration and guidance, and their confi- 
dence was not misplaced or abused. How sad and humilia- 
ting to contrast the turbulent and disorganizing Puritan 
agitators of the present day with these dignified and wise 
statesmen who have passed away ! How melancholy to 
know that the places once hallowed by the presence of the 
patriot chiefs of the past, are now daily desecrated by scenes 
of coarse brutality, injustice, and partisan violence and 
malice ! 



CHAPTEE XXXIY. 

PRESENT CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF THE CATHOLIC bHURCH. 

AccoEDmG to the most reliable modern geographers, the 
total number of inhabitants now on the earth is between 
eight and ten hundred millions. A few writers have placed 
the number as low as six hundred and fifty millions, but by 
far the greater proportion have fixed their estimates some- 
where between eight and ten hundred millions. More than 
half a century ago, when intercommunication between dif- 
ferent parts of the world was far more difficult and limited 
than at present, and when the facilities for procuring statis- 
tical facts Avere comparatively small, Malte-Brun estimated 
the population of the world at six hundred and fifty-three 
millions. In 1827 Pinkerton put the grand total at seven 
hundred millions^ and Balbi at seven hundred and thirty- 
seven millions. A writer in a late number of the " Civiltd 
Gattolica^' from which we have collated the greater portion 
of these statistics, places the number at eight hundred and 
forty millions. The following is a tabulated statement of 
the subdivisions of the inhabitants of the world by the au- 
thors referred to : 





Malte-Brun. 


Pinkerton. 


Balbi. 


Civ. Cattollca. 


Christianity.. 


228,000,000 


235,000,000 


260,000,000 


344,000,000 


Judaism . . . . 


5,000,000 


5,000,000 


4,000,000 


4,000,000 


Islamism . .., 


, 110,000,000 


120,000,000 


96,000,000 


100,000,000 


Brahminism . 


60,000,000 


60,000,000 


60,000,000 


60,000,000 


Buddhism . . . 


150,000,000 


180,000,000 


170,000,000 


180,000,000 


Other creeds . 


100,000,000 


100,000,000 


147,000,000 


152,000,000 



Total... 653,000,000 700,000,000 737,000,000 840,000,000 



470 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

Of this world-population more than tico hundred millions 
are Catholics, and about sixty millions are Protestants. Dif- 
ferent writers have varied somewhat in their computations, 
some having placed the number of Catholics as low as one 
hundred and fifty millions, and some as high as two hundred 
and tioenty millions; and the number of Protestants as low 
as forty millions, and as high as sixty-six millions. But 
from recent official data, both governmental and ecclesiastical, 
as well as from the statistics of the most reputable modern 
historians and geographers, it may be fairly conceded that 
our estimate is very nearly correct. 

The writer in the " Giviltd CattoUca " thus distributes 
the Catholic population of the world : 

Europe 147,1 94,000 

Asia and Oceanica . 9,666,000 



Africa 4,071,000 

America 46,970,000 



Total 207,901,000 

Thus much for numbers. It is a well-known and gener- 
ally-conceded fact, that the Catholic Church at the present 
time is making more rapid progress in conversions and in in- 
fluence among nearly all the nations of the earth than at any 
previous period. The numerous and rapid subdivisions of 
the sects, and their alarming tendency toward Pationalism 
and Indifferentism, have induced thoughtful men everywhere 
to reflect seriously upon these innumerable variations and 
conflicts of opinion, and to look about them for some reason- 
able, uniform, and fixed religious faith. As they regard the 
spirit which too often actuates the various sects, their devo- 
tion to, and their labors for CsBsar rather than for God, their 
perversions of the sacred oflice of the ministry by preaching 
politics instead of religion, and the almost universal deprava- 
tion of the religious sentiment, they instinctively direct their 
thoughts toward the Catholic Church and its beneficent and 



PRESENT CONDITIOK, ETC. 471 

immutable truths, and not unfrequently enter tlie fold to 
secure peace and rest for their souls. 

Of the sixty millions of Protestants of the world, many 
are Atheists, Deists, and Skeptics who deny the inspira- 
tion of the Scriptures and the divinity of Jesus. Of the 
latter classes there are about ten millions in the United 
States. If we take into the account the Rationalistic, Ma- 
terialistic, and Atheistic elements which have issued from 
the Puritan system in Germany, France, Switzerland, Hol- 
land, Great Britain, and other states of Europe, the number 
cannot fall far short of eight millions. Deducting these 
numbers from Protestantism, it leaves less than forty-five 
millions of adherents. Neither Atheists, Deists, RatioDal- 
ists, or Pantheists can be regarded as Christians or Protes- 
tants, because they ignore and repudiate the entire Christian 
system, and all sects, creeds, and practices founded upon it. 
It is but just, therefore, that they should be left out of the 
computation. 

While, therefore, Protestantism' is steadily declining in 
consequence of continual defections from its ranks of those 
who embrace Catholicism, or who rush blindly into the ranks 
of skepticism and infidelity. Catholicity is advancing with 
great rapidity. Not only in heathen lands, but in the strong- 
holds of Protestantism, is she making progress. To demon- 
strate our assertion, we present the following official data 
from the annual " Catholic Directory " of England, and other 
reliable authorities, with reference to England, Scotland, 
Holland, and the IJnited States : 

In 1839 England and Scotland contained 610 Catholic 
clergymen; 513 churches and chapels; no monasteries; 17 
convents, 10 colleges. In 1849 there were 897 clergymen; 
612 churches and chapels; 13 monasteries; 41 convents; 10 
colleges. In 1864 there were 1,445 clergymen ; 1,098 churches 
and chapels ; 56 monasteries; 186 convents; 12 colleges. 

These figures show the increase of Catholicism during 
the past twenty-five years. Those who have watched the 
peculiar interior workings of the Ano^llcan Church within 



472 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

the past two years, and beheld her decided advances toward 
the ancient Church, will be able to understand with what 
rapidity Catholicity is progressing in Great Britain. 

The following are the statistics with regard to Holland : 
In 1814 there were 850,000 Catholics, and in 1864 there 
were l,300,000--an increase of 450,000 in fifty years. At the 
same dates there were respectively 814 and 941 parishes — an 
increase of 127 in fifty years ; of clergymen, 1,216 and 1,726 — 
an increase of 310 in fifty years; of churches, 896 and 976— 
an increase of 80 in fifty years. 

The increase of Catholicity in the United States has been 
still more rapid than in the countries enumerated, as the fol- 
lowing extracts from the " Metropolitan Catholic Almanac," 
for 1867, and the "Catholic World" for January, 1866, will 
show: 

V^„r, T^>.,.c.„ yicarmtes ^ Churches Ecclesiastical Schools for 

years, DiOceBes. Apostolic. Bishops. Clergymen. and Stations. Institutions. Colleges. Girls. 

1808 1 — 2 68 80 2 1 2 | 

1830 11 — 10 232 230 9 6 20 

1840 16 — 17 482 812 13 9 47 

1850 27 — 27 1,081 1,578 29 17 91 

1854 41 2 39 1,574 2,458 34 20 112 

1857 41 2 39 1,872 2,882 35 29 134 

1861 43 3 45 2,317 3,795 49 — — 

From these statistics it appears that the average increase 
of Catholic clergymen and Catholic churches and stations 
during the past sixty years has been more than one hundred 
per centum every ten years, and that the ratio of advancement 
within the past decade is greater than at any corresponding 
period heretofore ! A similar progress will be observed in 
the establishment of institutions of learning in all parts of 
the United States. 

With regard to the great numerical preponderance of 
Catholics in the world, our opponents console themselves 
with the fact that many of them are poor and ignorant, 
w^hile nearly all of their own adherents are educated, pros- 
perous, and comfortable. From these facts they infer that 



PEESENT C0NDITI02T, ETC. 473 

Protestantism is superior to Catholicism. We admit the 
facts, but we deny in toto the inference. If just comparisons 
be instituted between Catholic and Protestant nations simi- 
larly circumstanced, like France and England ; Austria and 
Prussia; France and the United States; Belgium and Hol- 
land ; Sardinia, Lombardy, and Spain, and iDenmark, Swe- 
den, and Norway, it will be found that in point of intelli- 
gence, refinement, morality, and every thing pertaining to 
the useful and ornamental arts, these Catholic countries are 
in all respects equal to the Protestant ones. Lord Macaulay 
and other Protestant writers have very unfairly brought into 
contrast nations in all respects dissimilar, and have thus de- 
duced conclusions in favor of the Protestant religion and of 
Protestant civilization. Appropriate comparisons will lead 
to very different results. 

If we contrast Catholic France with Protestant England, 
we shall find that in literature, in the sciences, in the fine 
arts, in personal refinement and culture, and in morality and 
virtue, France is superior to England. A critical examina- 
tion of the number and calibre of the authors, men of science, 
and artists of the two nations, and of the extent and charac- 
ter of their works, will verify this remark. So far as morali- 
ty and obedience to the laws are concerned, France also has 
the advantage of England, as the following official and gov- 
ernmental statistics of crime prove : 

In 1862 the population of France was 37,386,061. The 
whole number of persons accused of crime during this entire 
year was 6,610. This is equivalent to one criminal to every 
5,656 of the entire population. 

In 1864 the population of England and Wales was 20,- 
066,224. The whole number of persons accused of crime 
during this entire year was 14,726. This is equivalent to 
one criminal to every 1,370 of the entire population. 

These years afford a fair average of crime in the two 
countries. We have examined the official statistics for many 
years in succession, and do not find a variation of more than 
two or three per cent, in a period of six years. We have se- 



474 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

lected the years 1862 for France and 1864 for England, 
because we happen to have the official records of both gov- 
ernments during these years before us. These statistics of 
crime are published by the authority and under the direct 
supervision of the two governments, and are therefore re- 
liable. 

We refer those who desire minute and detailed informa- 
tion upon this interesting subject to the " Compte General 
de la Justice Criminelle en France, pendant VAnnee 1861, 
1862, 1863, etc. Far le Garde des Sceaux, Ministre do la 
Justice et des Cultesr Also to the governmental statistics 
of England and Wales for the past ten years. 

In the useful arts, like manufactures of iron and steel, 
and the uses to which they are applied ; porcelain, silks, 
cloths, fabrics of all kinds, as well as ship-building, architec- 
ture, labor-saving machines, and internal improvements, Al- 
bion can claim no superiority over her Gallic rival. What- 
ever advantage either party may possess in any special 
branch is fairly equalized in other branches. 

In the art of war, we need only refer to the last allied 
operations of the two nations against Russia in the Crimea, 
for the test of superiority in arms. 

If we regard the statesmanship and the political influence 
of the two peoples with reference to the affairs of Europe, 
the superiority of France will still be apparent. 

If we descend to the minor details of internal polity, like 
the administration of domestic and public affairs, the judi- 
ciary, the police system, the sanitary regulations, the public 
institutions, etc., France is again in the ascendant. 

The navies of the two powers are now about equal in the 
namber of ships and guns, and in strength and efficiency. 
Only an actual naval war can determine their relative supe- 
riority. 

Here we have two neighboring nations, nearly equal in 
population, in natural capacities, in intelligence and culture, 
in wealth, with a similar soil and climate, the one developing 
its civilization from a Catholic, the other from a Protestant 



PEESENT CONDITIOISr, ETC. 475 

Stand-point. It would require more space than we are able 
to devote to the subject to demonstrate in detail the special 
facts bearing upon each of the points enumerated ; but to 
those who are familiar with the past and present condition 
of the two countries our conclusions will be satisfactory. 

Catholic Belgium occupies the same position toward Prot- 
estant Holland, so far as civilization is concerned, as France 
holds toward England. Surely no candid man will deny that 
in every thing pertaining to a high state of civilization the 
former is far in advance of the latter. 

If Catholic Austria be brought into competition v>^ith 
Protestant Prussia, the first will lose nothing by the compar- 
ison. In the scale of progress and general intelligence they 
may fairly be ranked as equals. 

Sardinia, Lombardy, and Spain are equal in all respects, 
and in a few particulars superior, to Denmark, Sweden, and 
Norway. It is a conceded fact that the criminal statistics 
of Sweden and Denmark indicate a greater ratio of crime 
than those of any other nation in Europe. For detailed facts 
upon this subject the reader is referred to the ofEcial statis- 
tics of crime of the several countries. 

The civilization of the United States cannot justly be 
compared Avith that of any other people, in consequence of 
the diversity of nationalities of which they are composed. 
A large proportion of the Catholic element is made up of 
poor and ignorant immigrants from Ireland, whose ancestors 
for centuries have been kept in servile subjection, poverty, 
and ignorance by England. As a general rule the poorest 
part of the inhabitants of Ireland have come here with a view 
of improving their condition. In common with their breth- 
ren at home, they have been suifering for many generations 
from tyrannical and demoralizing influences, so that, nearly 
all mental development and worldly prosperity have been 
impracticable. This class of men cannot, therefore, be ad- 
duced as a fair test of Catholic civilization, nor can any just 
comparisons be instituted between them and the rich and 
educated native Protestants of the country. Contrast if you 



476 CHEISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

please educated Irish, German, French, or American Catho- 
lics with equal numbers of American Protestants of the same 
class, and we have no apprehension as to the result. 

In our large cities, the statistics of crime demonstrate 
that a great majority of the minor offences are committed by 
Irish Catholics. The facts we have just detailed afford a sat- 
isfactory explanation of this circumstance. Poverty, igno- 
rance, and want, are powerful tempters to crime. On the 
other hand, the records of our state-prisons show that by far 
the greater proportion of capital crimes have been perpe- 
trated by Protestants. 

With regard to the conceded intellectual and educational 
inferiority of other portions of the Catholic world, the follow- 
ing statistics from the ^^CiviUd CattoUca^'' show why this 
is so, and they likewise render manifest the important facts 
respecting the vast missionary labors of the Church in con- 
verting millions of heathen to Christianity: 

Heathen Converts to Catholicism. 

Asia and Oceanica 5,000,000 

Africa 3,000,000 

America about 23,200,000 

Total 31,200,000 

These converted natives of Asia, Africa, and America do 
not indeed possess the natural endowments or the acquired 
knowledge and culture of the Anglo-Saxon, or the Frank, but 
they have been Christianized, and elevated vastly in the 
scale of humanity. They are unintellectual and rude Chris- 
tians, but they worship the true God. 

Catholicity is a perfect religious system for all forms of 
government and for all classes of men. Its principles are 
based on love to God and man. Its ambition and its ener- 
gies are expended in bringing humanity nearer to the Eternal. 
Its kingdom is not of this world, but its aspirations, its hopes, 
its efforts are for eternity. Its jurisdiction is confined to the 



PEESEiTT CONDITIOir, ETC. 4T7 

Spiritual order. Therefore it is .that its canons and decrees 
inculcate strict loyalty to existing governments, and obedi- 
ence to legally constituted authorities. Not only does it re- 
spect and ohey the laws, but it adapts itself to the habits 
aud customs of the nations which harbor it. In inculcating 
tbe divine precepts, it continually directs the minds and dis- 
positions of men and of nations to charity and peace. It 
struggles hard for converts, for churches, and for institutions 
of learning and mercy ; but it is through love of God and 
man, not worldly ambition. 

We cannot better illustrate the truth of these observa- 
tions than to cite the conduct of the Catholic clergy in our 
lat^ civil war, and in the still more recent rebellion in Ire- 
land. In both instances the priesthood as a body has ad- 
hered to the laws of the Church, by proving faithful to their 
allegiance, and active in their efforts for harmony and peace. 
They have not converted their churches into political halls, 
for the purpose of inciting hatred and strife among brethren, 
but they have steadily preached religion and nothing but 
religion. When the angry passions of the people have been 
roused, they have ever sought to calm them, and to divert 
their thoughts into better channels. 

For these reasons the status of the Catholic Church among 
the A'arious nations, both civilized and barbarous, has always 
been much higher than that of the sects. The authorized 
representatives of the former are wedded to poverty and 
celibacy in order that their undivided energies and affections 
may be devoted to the cause of their Divine Master. Worldly 
ambition and worldly pursuits have no place in their thoughts 
or desires. Therefore they keep aloof from all active partici- 
pation in the affairs of states. 

Of necessity the labors and affections of the ministers 
of the sects must be more or less diverted from their reli- 
gious duties toward their families. The instincts of nature 
urgently prompt them to struggle for a certain competency 
in order that wife and children shall not be left penniless 
and helpless after they are gone. For the purpose of cdu- 



4:78 CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

catiDg sons and daughters, and of advancing tlieir interests 
as members of society, they are obliged to mingle more or 
less in business affairs, and to court political, financial, and 
social interests. We do not say that they cannot serve God 
well under such circumstances, but we do assert that they 
can serve Him far better without tbese distractions. 

From the general principles indicated with reference to 
the two religious systems, it is evident that the future pros- 
pects of Catholicism are far more encouraging than those of 
Protestantism. The policy of one is non-intervention, and 
strict obedience to legally constituted authorities ; of the 
other, aggression, agitation, and innovation. History teaches 
that all the tendencies of the one are in the direction of 
public order and tranquillity, and of the other toward dis- 
cord and revolution. One is admirably adapted to every 
conceivable form of government, and everywhere thrives 
apace and extends its beneficent influences ; the other lan- 
guishes and decays except where its political power is domi- 
nant. 

Pertinent to the subject, vfe cite the following observa- 
tions of Dr. Channing: "Religion surpasses all other prin- 
ciples in giving free and manifold action to the mind. It 
recognizes in every faculty and sentiment the workmanship 
of God, and assigns a sphere of agency to each. It takes our 
whole nature under its guardianship, and, with a parental 
love, ministers to the inferior as well as to the higher grati- 
fications. False religion mutilates the soul, sees evil in our 
innocent sensibilities, and rules with a tyrant's frown and 
rod. True religion is a mild and lawful sovereign, govern- 
ing to protect, to give strength, to imfold all our inward re- 
sources." * 

Most admirably do these observations of onr eminent di- 
vine apply to the influences of Catholicity upon mankind. 
Regarding man's entire nature, appealing to every " faculty 
and sentiment," it aims to develop and to exalt the nobler 
qualities, to control and direct the inferior ones, and to re- 
* Channin2;'s "Memoirs," vol. ii., p. 211. 



PEESENT CONDITIOIT, ETC. 4.^9 

press every tiling which is vicious and sinful. While it re- 
frains from all interference with governments and existing 
laws, it endeavors to elevate individuals, and to purify and 
harmonize society. Its orders of mercy and charity are ever 
present and active where irreligion and vice are to be sub- 
dued, and human want and suffering are to be alleviated. It 
has always been a sure friend of the people, an opponent of 
injustice and oppression, a barrier against infidelity, and the 
great bulwark of Christianity and human rights. Its sphere 
is spiritual, not political ; and its operative agencies are love 
and charity, not force and coercion. Jesus is recognized as 
its Supreme Head and Ruler, and His revealed laws are its 
rule of faith and practice. As the Divine Master and His 
first sacerdotal ofBcers always kept aloof from political and 
state affairs, so have His subsequent representatives ever 
followed the example. Catholicity does not indeed hesitate 
to rebuke wickedness in high places, and, when necessary, to 
invoke the censures of the Church; but, under all circum- 
stances, its operations are strictly confined to the spiritual 
order. " The Church," says Brownson, " maintains her inde- 
pendence and her superiority as representing the spiritual 
ordei, for she governs those who are within, not those who 
are without, and the State acts in harmony, not in conflict 
with her, because it confines its action — where it has poy/er — 
to things temporal." * 

We have endeavored to present Christianity as it was 
originally established, and as it has been preserved and per- 
petuated by the Church. We have given a brief outline of 
its conflicts with the numerous antagonistic forces which 
have been arrayed against it up to the present period. We 
have shown that its tenets and tendencies address themselves 
more to spiritual than to material interests, and therefore 
that it is perfectly adapted to all classes and conditions of 
men, as well as to all forms of government ; that its natural 
and legitimate fruits are beneficent and progressive; that its 
earlier spiritual conquests of paganism and barbarism, and 
* " Catholic World," April, 1867. 



480 CHEISTIANITT AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

its later missionaiy enterprises among heathen nations, have 
revolutionized more than one-fourth of the world, and sub- 
stituted Christianity in the j)lace of idolatry. 

We have also displayed the revolutionary doctrines and 
tendencies of the innovators of the sixteenth century, and 
have traced the influences of the Puritan system founded 
upon these doctrines to their practical results, both in Eu- 
rope and America. We have demonstrated that the peculiar 
spirit of this Puritan system has pervaded, to a greater or 
less extent, nearly all the sects ; that, notwithstanding the 
mnumerable sectarian subdivisions which had been made 
with a view of avoiding the more objectionable features of 
the system, the object has never yet been accomplished, from 
the simple fact that a recognition of any one of the funda- 
mental dogmas of the Reformation involves the reception of 
all the others. With nearly all the sects there is no mid- 
dle course. They must either admit the entire creed of Cal- 
vinism, with its intolerant Puritan system, or involve them- 
selves in religious systems which are inconsistent and un- 
tenable. The premises of Calvin were false, but his deduc- 
tions from them are logical. His ideas of original sin, pre- 
destination, and justification are erroneous, and lead directly 
to mischievous results, both theoretically and practically. 
These false premises cling to nearly every one of the sects, 
however much they may attempt to modify them, and thus 
it is that the evil genius of Puritanism has always hovered 
over them. 

We have placed the Catholic system and the Puritan 
system side by side, and have examined the doctrines and 
the tendencies of each. The reader must decide between 
them. 

THE END. 




<~i ^' o v/r^^^ * v\^' ^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 

^.V '^, '^^ 3\^ ^ '^^ Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 

> ^ */o, \-^ A Treatment Date: April 2005 

:'^'^ '^'p v"^'^ ■^'^^' PreservationTechnologies 

^'^ / ^- -?^ >S-, A^ "^ r^. ' A uunoi n I CAncB IN PAPER PHESERVATION 



S.0^ 



A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



^v^ 


K 






\ 


. "^O 


0^ 


xO 


^^. 


s: 


* 8 , 


\^* . 


•r, 











0^ ^ 



^ ■^^.^" 



'^, .-^^ -^''^''<^ 








LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





013 371 421 2 



